Finding her Forever
by Pitts Princess 12
Summary: Rose had found it surprisingly easy to love the human Doctor. She thought they'd finally found forever, together. They only got 3 years. So when a familiar stranger shows up and offers Rose a chance to go home she takes it, leaving everyone behind again. But troubles never far behind. With new and old friends to help can the Doctor keep Rose safe from an old enemy? Rose/11
1. Chapter One- The Loss

AN- Ok, so for a good part of this nothing has really changed. The only really big difference is in my story there is no River Song. Now, don't get me wrong, there is a Melody Pond, and how that all works will be briefly explained in the story. I'm mostly ignoring Rivers interactions with the Doctor here. Pretending those episodes didn't happen, I may not be a big fan of hers.

Chapter One ~*~ The Loss

She had imagined this day before; they would be old, and together in a warm comfortable four-poster bed. They would be surrounded by their children and grandchildren, great grandchildren if they were lucky. They would say their goodbyes, share love and stories with their family and then, quietly they would slip off to sleep before fading from this world. It was supposed to be both of them, many, many years from now. Not two years after their wedding day, not him alone. It wasn't fair.

Rose stood from the uncomfortable waiting room chair and realized she was still holding his neck tie, which the ambulance driver had torn off his neck when he'd been working on him. Even though Rose knew there was nothing to be done, she let them try. She'd known this was coming for a little more than 6 months now. He'd explained it all to her as soon as he'd realized something was wrong.

~*~Three months earlier~*~

"Rose, I need to talk to you," James said quietly as Rose come rushing out of the bathroom, towel drying her hair. He'd picked that name mostly at random, but said it reminded him of someone. And since he couldn't go by Doctor here, it would work.

"We're so late James, can't this- She stopped dead when she looked up and saw his face. He was pale and drawn, as though he hadn't eaten in days, but scariest of all was the small line of blood trailing from his nose.

"No, I don't think this can wait Rose," He quipped, trying to get that look off her face.

"What happened?!" She demanded before she dashed into the bathroom and came back with a tissue for his nose. "You were fine before I got into the shower." He took the tissue from her and dabbed his nose.

"You remember what I told you about Donna?" He asked, wishing what he was about to tell her wasn't true.

"Yes" She told him hesitantly, nodding her head. She knew this was going to be bad, she could feel it. This was going to be devastating.

"You remember how I told you I had a far superior Time Lord mind, to her human one, and would be spared the effects of being half human, half Time Lord?" He asked as she sank to the bed slowly shaking her head, trying to deny the true as he spoke it. "I was wrong."

~*~Present Day~*~

He'd explained that he'd been so very wrong, he'd thought, being so superior, he'd have many, many decades before the effects took a hold of him, so he'd told her a slight lie, saying it would never affect him. It had started with small headaches and bloody noses. That had lasted a bit more than 4 months, then, very gradually his memories had started to slip. He was able to hide it at work, at first. But Torchwood knew all, saw all, and they knew something was going on.

He'd quit, after signing a mountain of nondisclosure paperwork. As if the Doctor needed to be told to keep his mouth shut. After that it had all gone very bad, very fast. In the last few days he's been nothing more than a shell of the man he had been. He could still walk and take care of himself, mostly, but the light had gone out of his eyes. He no longer babbled, or smiled. He was practically catatonic, but for the fact that he could still function. Everything about him seemed to slow down, even as the headaches got worse with frightening speed. When he'd gone into cardiac arrest earlier that afternoon her mum had called an ambulance, even though Rose had told her it would do no good.

Rose looked up when she heard footsteps and sighed when it was just her mum with a cup of tea. She looked around and realized she'd wondered away from the waiting area. As if she could run from the outcome.

"What are you doin over here love?" Jackie asked as she handed her the tea. Rose looked down at it and felt the tears sting her eyes.

"I got lost in thought," She finally replied looking back up at her mum. "This isn't how it was supposed to go you know." She bit the words off bitterly. "I certainly wasn't supposed to outlive _him_!" She nearly shouted at her mum. The tears fell now, though she made no sounds. Jackie reached out to hug her but was interrupted by Rose as her face paled and she took an unconscious step back, away from the terrible news she didn't want to hear.

"Mrs. Tyler?" A voice said from behind Jackie. Rose nodded her head once; bracing herself for the blow she knew was coming.

"Yes," She said, taking a deep breath. "That's me."

"I'm sorry to inform you…" She stopped listening as she sank to the floor, her tea falling from her fingers and spilling around her. The words were unimportant, she knew, she'd known for months. He was gone. Her mum was there next to her, but Rose hardly noticed. She felt like she was falling, and this time there was no one to catch her before she fell into a void.

 **~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~** Gone **~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

The funeral was a very private event. It wasn't that James hadn't touched the lives of many people in the 3 years he'd been here. But due to the unusual nature of the ceremony they had decided on family and his closest friends only. This meant there were only about 10 people in attendance. Tony, being too young to really understand, had stayed home with the nanny.

The funeral pyre burned very bright, it had taken some doing to get the space to do this, as no one had heard of using a funeral pyre in a very long time. James had insisted on this, when they'd reach the end of their rope, when they knew there was no saving him. Even as only half Time Lord, it would be dangerous for someone to get their hands on his body. But in the end her father had pulled through and found the way and the place. So they all stood a few steps back as the bright hot fire burned.

Rose didn't feel it; any of it, she was chilled to the bone. She stood watching as the fire burned, only really half there. It was so bright for a while, just like he had been and then slowly it began to dwindle. Rose didn't notice as people began to leave, wishing her well as they went. She never once looked away from the fire, not until it was nothing but smoldering embers.

"Rose," Her mum said softly as she reached out and touched her arm. Jackie was surprised to find how cold her skin was, considering she'd been standing next to a fire for almost an hour. "It's time to go home now," She whispered gently nodding to Pete. He gently put his arm around Rose's waist and maneuvered her towards the car.

"He's gone now," She whispered not daring to look over her shoulder at the remains of their lives together.

~*~*~*~One month later ~*~*~*~

Rose closed her door behind her softly and turned with her back to the door and just stood there. It had been her first day back at work. Pete and Jackie had told her it was too soon, but she couldn't just sit in her room, remembering. She didn't know what else to do. She knew he wanted her to move on, to find love and build a life with someone else. But she was pretty sure there was no way. As she stared around her room her eyes landed on her closet door. Slowly she moved away from the door, then with some urgency made her way into her closet. She flipped the light on and then started pulling boxes down from the shelf above her head. She tossed them to the side when they weren't the right box, paying no attention to the sound of stuff breaking in the boxes.

Finally she reached back to the very back of the closet and pulled out a small blue box. It was such a beautiful blue, TARDIS blue, it had taken forever to find just the right box. She took it over to the bed and sat down with it. She stared at the small box for a long moment. She knew it was silly, to still have it. And she never told James, though she was sure he knew she had it. She was sure he could feel it, just as she could. Finally she reached out and flipped the lid up. The small key caught the light from the window before she flipped it closed again. She reached over to his side of the bed and pulled the pillow over to her. She laid down on it and breathed in his fading sent before the tears over took her again.

~*~*~*~Rose~*~*~*~

She woke sometime later in the dark. At first she thought she might be sick, she was so hot. She sat up and realized that in her grief she had taken the key out of the box, and it was now hot, nearly painfully hot. She sat up and took a deep breath as she stared down at the key. Why was it so hot? It should only react this was to the presence of the TARDIS, and even then it had only warmed her skin, never like this. And she knew, as much as she wished he'd come back, there was no way. Because though she had loved James, more then she'd thought possible, she still held a special spot in her heart for her original Doctor.

She closed her hand around the key, feeling the heat, not noticing the pain as the heat slowly rose to a near blistering burn, though it was doing no damage to her hand.

And that's when she heard it, that siren call. Her eyes popped open as she leapt out of bed. It couldn't be, could it? She flew out of her room, her feet hardly touching the ground as she ran.

"Rose what..." Jackie started as Rose dashed passed her and Pete sitting on the floor with Tony, surrounded by toys. Jackie leapt up and with one look at Pete she followed Rose out the door. She just barely saw Rose turn around the west wing of the house. She turned the corner and stopped dead in her tracks, right next to Rose.

"Is that..." Jackie trailed off, not really sure she was seeing what she was seeing.

"It's... different" Rose spoke quietly almost afraid it would disappear, her eyes fixated on the tall blue police box sitting in their yard. It wasn't quite as blue as her TARDIS, subtle differences everywhere. The key in Roses hand cooled a bit as it started to glow. Rose rushed to the door, fumbling with her key. Her hand shook as she tried to fit it in the hole, the lock seemed to glimmer for a moment and then the key fit. She shoved the door open, almost falling into the TARDIS.

"Hello then," a tall blond man said as she righted herself. She looked around the TARDIS in wonder. It was so very different. It was almost all white, with a little grey, with round glowing things on the walls. Her eyes traveled to the console, which couldn't look any different. She looked everywhere as she took it all in. She closed her eyes and remembered what James had told her about himselfs. About the people he'd traveled with, the places he'd gone. She remembered him 'showing her' his other faces, telling her about who he used to be.

"You must be Nyssa" Rose finally got out, looking to her right at the tall brunet women. She has a mass of curly hair and wore a deep purple dress, the collar going all the way up her neck.

"How did you get in here?" Nyssa asked looking from Rose to the blond man. "Doctor?" She asked confused as Rose took a step towards him.

"You really are him, aren't you?" Rose asked looking into his eyes, no matter the shape, no matter the color, they were the Doctors eyes. She couldn't believe she was standing here in front of a different Doctor, again. "Is that celery in your lapel?" She asked a slight teasing tone. Her grief momentarily forgotten in her wonder "It really is you." She itched to reach out and touch him, to know it was him, but she held her arms at her side.

"Well," He said looking down at her, "You seem to know who I am, and for some reason the TARDIS recognizes you. And I see you've got a key there, so, may I assume you know me in the future?"

"Yeah," Rose said nodding her head slowly, "from the future."

"Rose?" a voice said from outside the TARDIS. Rose had forgotten that her mum had followed her out here. "What's going on?" Jackie asked as she stuck her head inside the TARDIS. "Who's that?" She asked looking at the blond Doctor.

"I'm the Doctor" the Doctor said smiling at Jackie. "And you are?"

"Did he change again?" Jackie asked, sounding slightly exasperated, she looked back to Rose. Rose sighed and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I thought, well I thought you were him, here to get me. But I know that's silly because I know he can't cross back over without the help of..." Rose trailed off as her gaze shifted from the floor to the Doctor. "How did you get here?" She asked, worried he'd be stuck here now and screw up the time line.

"Come where? I'm on earth, aren't I?" He asked looking back at Nyssa, "It's easy to get it wrong sometimes." Nyssa smiled at him and he shrugged "Ok, a lot of the time."

"No, you're on earth, just..." Rose sighed and her shoulders fell. "This is an alternative universe, it's not my universe. I got trapped here when I was traveling with the Doctor and now I'm stuck."

"Why can't he come get you?" the Doctor asked confused. "It's painfully easy."

"Well he would but-

"Mum," Rose interrupted her mum. "I can't tell you," Rose told him shaking her head. "Its wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff," The Doctor nodded his head, as if that made perfect sense to him. And since he was the one who told her that, sort of, it did make sense, to him.

"Well, why don't I just take you back?" He asked smiling as he nodded his head. "It shouldn't be too hard to find, well, me." He explained with one sharp nod.

"But... You can do that?" Rose whispered, barely daring to get her hopes up. "Cross dimensions just like that?" She asked, snapping her finger.

"I'll have us there in time for a good game of cricket!" He told her excitedly. "Love to help." Rose nodded her head slowly as her mum took her hand.

"Go," Jackie urged her squeezing her hand. "I know you want to. I'll be ok here, with Tony and Pete." She looked her in the face now, forcing a smile. "You'll never be happy here without him, and I can't stand to see you in pain." Rose nodded her head as the excitement started to spread. Her grief was not forgotten, but lessened now with new hope.

"Can you give me just a bit, to gather some stuff?" She asked the Doctor as she walked back to the door.

"Of course," He said nodding his head. Rose smiled a little, for the first time in weeks she had some hope. She could never have her James back, but at least she could see the Doctor again, travel, run, and do some good again.

When the door closed behind the two women Nyssa walked over to the Doctor and put her hand on his arm. It shocked her how easily he had offered to help her, how fast he accepted her story.

"Do you know her?" She asked confused by the strange look on his face.

"No, but TARDIS does for sure." He said patting the console as he walked around it. "I feel like this is going to be interesting." He told her smiling. He looked over at the blinking light on the console, yes, interesting indeed.

~*~*~*~11~*~*~*~

"Alright Ponds!" The Doctor exclaimed as he excitedly skipped around the console flipping switched and banging on something with his fist. "Have I got the perfect spot for the four of us!" He babbled excitedly as he looked down at his three best friends.

"Doctor, I'm a little busy here" Amy said nodding down at the small baby nursing. Rory looked up from the couch they were sitting on in their living room. Well, they had been in their living room, until the Doctor had materialized around them. They were really going to have to talk to him about doing that.

"Oh!" The Doctor exclaimed smiling at Rory. "Well, young Melody can finish her meal while I input the coordinates." He said softly after a moment. "I found a planet of flowers, fields and fields of flowers that make you smile whenever you smell them!"

"That sounds wonderful" Amy said looking down at her beautiful daughter. She was almost 6 months old now, and Amy still had fears of losing her.

~*~*~Demons Run~*~*~

"A child is not a weapon!" The Doctor shouted as he slammed his hands down on the screen. She just smirked back at him and shook her head.

"Oh, give us time. She can be. She will be." Madam Kovarian said a smug tone to her voice as she stared him down.

"Except you've already lost her, and I swear I will never let you anywhere near her again." He told her defiantly, pointing at the screen.

"Oh, Doctor. Fooling you once was a joy, but fooling you twice the same way? It's a privilege." She told him, a huge smiling on her face as she watched it dawn on him.

"Amy. Amy!" The Doctor said turning from the screen, hiding the slight smirk on his face as he ran from the room, presumably to warn Amy, while he worked with his sonic screwdriver. He fiddled with the screwdriver the whole way down the corridor.

Amy looked up when she heard the Doctor calling her name. She tried to calm her crying daughter as she looked franticly around her for where the Doctor was yelling from. As she was looking around a 'hatch' opened as if hanging in the air and Madame Kovarian appeared in it.

"Amy!" She could hear the Doctor getting closer as he called.

"Wakey, Wakey," Madame Kovarian said an ugly smirk on her face. Amy looked from her to Melody and back again, confused. Madame Kovarian looked just as confused as the Doctor came skidding to a halt next to Amy.

"I'm not stupid, you know," He said staring hard at Madame Kovarian. She looked murderous as she glared at the Doctor.

"It doesn't matter," She told him, teeth clenched. "I'll find another way." She pointed at the Doctor. "Your time is at an end!"

"I don't think so" the Doctor said calmly. In the background you could he ruckus voices and loud sirens. "That'll be the Judoon now. Enjoy prison."

~*~*~*~*~Rose~*~*~*~*~

Rose looked around her room, their room, one last time. Filling her memory with the laughter, the love, the tears and the amazing life they shared in those short 3 years. She hefted the bag over her shoulder. She'd filled it with important photos, letters, small gifts he'd given her, anything she couldn't live without. She took a deep breath and pulled the door closed behind her.

She walked down the hall, a mix of emotions racing through her. She was still grieving the loss of her husband, but part of her couldn't believe that she might actually be able to see The Doctor again. She was excited by the idea of knowing another Doctor, a 'younger' Doctor. She was incredibly sad to be leaving her mum behind. She'd only just gotten to know this worlds Pete, and Tony was only 4, he'd never remember her. But she knew she couldn't sit here, she'd never move on, not alone.

"Rose," She half smiled at her mum after she turned the corner into the living room. Jackie stood from the couch, handing Tony to Pete. "I'm going to... It won't be the same without..." She raised a hand to her mouth and inhaled sharply, trying to hold back the tears. "I love you!" She finally got out as she rushed forward pulling Rose into a tight hug.

"I'll miss you too mum!" Rose told her, holding her just as tight. "If I can, I'll come back to visit," Rose told her, wondering if it would be possible. Rose pulled back for her mum and smiled at Pete as she stood, holding Tony.

"We'll miss you Rose, I know you're not _my_ daughter, but I love you like you are," He told her, pulling her into a one armed hug as Tony wrapped his tiny arm around her too.

"Thank you Pete" She replied, as tears silently rolled down her cheeks. "I love you too" She whispered softly.

"Bye-bye Rosie" Tony said, his sweet voice happy, since he didn't understand the gravity of the situation.

"I love you Tony" Rose told him, kissing his forehead. She stepped away from the little family, towards the front door. She reached behind her and opened the door. She stepped through it and pulled it closed before she ran from the front door. She was afraid if she stopped before she got to the TARDIS she might not go. And she knew she had to go.

~*~*~*~*~5~*~*~*~*~*~

"Are you sure she can be trusted?" Nyssa asked as the Doctor walked around the console fiddling with random controls.

"I'm not, but she is," The Doctor said patting the console softly. "She recalibrated the lock on the door so her key would work." He told her as he looked back at Nyssa, "Her key, which is definitely from the future."

"Ok," Nyssa agreed nodding her head, as she watched the door, waiting. "Is it dangerous, messing with finding another you?" She asked finally looking back at him.

"Could be... maybe" The Doctor murmured, absentmindedly. Then his face lit up and he looked towards the door. "Ah, her she is now." He informed her right before the door open and Rose stepped in. He could see that she was holding back tears, but they were not just from leaving her mum, there was something else, some other sadness. She shut the door behind her, without looking back, and took a deep breath.

"I'm ready" She told him, her voice full of bravado. She stepped farther into the console room and looked around. "Is it just the two of you?" She asked looking between them. She watched something pass between them as they looked at each other. She recognized the sadness in their eyes.

"Now, yes." The Doctor finally said nodding. Rose nodded her head and didn't ask any further questions about it.

"We recently lost someone" Nyssa revealed quietly after a moment. The Doctor was surprised to hear her tell Rose this. She'd been so tight lipped about it, he was afraid she may be repressing it. "His name was Adric," She told her before she looked at the Doctor and walked out of the control room.

"We're still both pretty saddened by the loss, another friend decided to stay on earth, she'd had enough... traveling" The Doctor told Rose as he held out and arm to her. "Come along, I'll show you where you can stay." They walked down the hall in silence for a while, Rose looking around and taking in just how very different everything looked, and how very much the same everything _felt_. She knew there was more to the story of Adric and their other friend. But she let it be for now.

"It shouldn't take very long to find your Doctor," He finally told her as he turned a corner. "If the old girl cooperates," he said stopping in front of a door that seemed to appear out of nowhere and rubbed his hand on the frame.

"Right," Rose replied with a small chuckle. "I remember how she can be," she assured him, reaching out and touching the door as well. The Doctor took a small step back as her eyes glowed for the briefest of seconds. But his face was nothing but a smile when she looked up at him.

"You have a lot of stories to tell, don't you?" He finally asked and she smiled, but it was a very sad smile.

"Too many stories I think," She agreed nodding her head.

"This should do for now." He told her opening the door for her. Rose's sharp intake of breath surprised him as she stumbled into the room.

"It can't be," She whispered as she whipped around the room, taking it all in, unaware of the tears now streaming down her face. The Doctor stepped into the unfamiliar room and looked around. It looked, lived in, clothing strewn around the floor, black boots at the end of the bed.

"This is your room, isn't it?" He finally asked as Rose collapsed onto her bed. She looked up at him, her eyes streaked with makeup.

"Yes," She told him nodding enthusiastically. "How?"

"Well, you know, time doesn't travel in a linear flow, it's very flexible, especially inside the TARDIS. Things from then can be now and vice versa." She smiled as she listened to him ramble, he so strongly reminded her of her Doctor that she jumped up and hugged him. She was surprised when he wrapped his arms around her as well. It was different and familiar all at the same time. He pulled back and smiled down at her.

"I'll just leave you to get readjusted." He told her stepping towards her door. "Call me if you need anything."

"Thank you" Rose said nodding her head. "I think I'll take a nap." He nodded his head and shut the door quietly. This most definitely was going to be an interesting trip.

~*~*~*~*~11~*~*~*~*~*~

The Doctor wandered around the console, randomly messing with switches. He'd just left the Ponds at their house. Their adventure through the flowers had been nice, calm and fun. But the Doctor was bored. He couldn't take them on the kinds of adventures he used to. They were parents now; they had other, more important, responsibilities. He needed something to do, to take his mind off things. He felt like there was something he was supposed to remember, but he couldn't. It was nagging him in the back of the mind, but it just wouldn't come to him.

He fell backwards in the jump chair and sighed. Something was tickling his brain, trying to push its way through. And he was trying to let it, but something was keeping it from him. It was an incredibly annoying feeling.

"What?!" He called out to no one, as he stood up. "What!" He demanded, but got no reply.

~*~*~*~*~5~*~*~*~*~

Rose was jolted up in bed as the TARDIS came to a screeching halt. She looked around and it took her a moment to remember exactly where and when she was. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and pulled her shoes on. She headed out the door towards where she was pretty sure the control room was.

"Everything ok?" She asked as she entered the room, to find the Doctor and Nyssa huddled around the console.

"Yes" the Doctor said looking up at her. "Oh yes, everything is fine" He assured her, smiling. "We seem to have made it back to your dimension just fine, but we've landed in Cardiff, around the end of 2008," Rose's eyes lit up at the mention of Cardiff. "Is there someone-" But he didn't get to finish because Rose was already running towards the door. She threw it open and looked around, barely daring to breathe as she waited. She only just stepped out the door and she heard someone yell.

"Rosie!" She heard the voice before she saw him. She took another step away from the TARDIS and looked around again, before she saw a tall man in a long coat running towards her. Her eyes welled up and she blinked the tears away. She briefly thought she may never stop crying at this rate. She stepped out of the TARDIS and seconds later she was being lifted into the air by a pair of strong arms.

"Jack!" She sobbed into his shoulder and he held her tight.

"What are you doing here?" Jack asked as he pulled her away just a little. "Where's the other Doctor?" Jack asked as he turned around to look at the TARDIS. At his question her face fell and she shook her head.

"He's gone," She told him, her voice hoarse from the tears. "It took him, like Donna, but he couldn't stop it like the other him did for her." Jack nodded, mostly understanding what she meant. The Doctor had filled him in on Donna, some time ago.

"So, how'd you get back here?" Jack asked looking again at the TARDIS. He was surprised to see a man standing at the door; he was wearing a long cream colored jacket with red trim and... "Is that celery?" He wondered out loud. Rose laughed and nodded her head. "Did he regenerate again?" Jack asked looking back at Rose.

"No, this is the Doctor, but before us, way before us in fact." Rose said looking from the smiling Doctor to Jack and back again. "He came through to my dimension and agreed to help me find my Doctor." She explained to him.

"I thought it wasn't as easy as that?" Jack asked Rose as she pulled back a bit.

"Yeah, so did I," She agreed as she took his hand in hers and lead her towards the Doctor. "This is Jack, another good friend. Jack this is the Doctor and Nyssa," Ross introduced them as Nyssa stepped out the door as well.

"Well hello," Jack said to Nyssa with a big flirty smile on his face.

"Not now Jack," Rose said laughing as she shook her head. It was reassuring to know that somethings never, ever changed.

"Hello" Nyssa said smiling at Jack. Rose was taking this all in strides. Jack had asked about the other Doctor, so she hadn't come to Jack in a time before the earth was stolen. Had he see the Doctor since then? She had lots of questions for him. For some reason Rose felt it was important that Jack came with them, but she wasn't sure why.

"Doctor, would it be ok if Jack came along for a bit?" Rose asked and smiled when the Doctor nodded his head. "What do you say Jack, up for a bit of an adventure, or do you need to get back?" Jack looked over his shoulder and then back to Rose.

"I've got nowhere to be right now." He told her as he pulled out his phone and sent a text to his team at Torchwood. "I'm free as a bird" He said winking at Nyssa.

~*~*~*~*~11~*~*~*~*~

The Doctor pulled his bowtie off and threw it onto the control panel and sighed as he walked over and sat down in the jump seat. He was tired, bone deep tired. He didn't sleep much, but he felt like he really needed it right now. He ran a hand through his hair as he sat back.

Something was going on, something was pulling at him, but he didn't know what. Something was happening in his time line, something strange, and he couldn't find it! That was nearly impossible.

" _Doctor"_ His head whipped up at the sound. He knew that voice, even if he hadn't heard it anywhere but in his dreams for years.

"Rose?" He asked no one as he looked around the room.

~*~*~*~*~5~*~*~*~*~

"Doctor" Rose said as they all stood inside the control room. "Does the TARDIS need fuel?" She asked as she sat down. Jack sat down next to Rose, putting and arm around her shoulders and squeezing her close.

"No, I'm not really sure why she stopped here first." The Doctor said as he walked over to the viewing screen and read the readouts. "I had her set to find my older self's signature." He pushed a few buttons and looked confused. "And now, it looks like she's got another stop in mind." He pushed a few more buttons and said "Do either of you know why we'd be headed to the 51st century to a planet called The Library?"

A/N- So, I don't know the fifth Doctor very well. I've only seen a few clips of him on YouTube. I know he was Tennent's favorite Doctor though, so I feel confident in making him a bit like 10. It has literally been years since I posted anything on here, so go easy on me. I just recently got my son into Doctor Who, and rewatching it with him has awoken the fanficer in me. Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts...


	2. Chapter Two- Not Quite There

Chapter Two ~*~ Not Quite There

Rose's face paled at the words as the Doctor turned to look at both of them. Rose's eyes shifted to Jack, but he just looked as confused as the Doctor. She could remember very vividly the story the Doctor had told her about The Library. How he'd been there with Donna, how a team of archaeologists had shown up. Then she looked more pointedly at Jack. The Doctor had told her that Jack had shown up there, no explanation, full of half-truths and secrets. This couldn't be how that happened, could it? Was she responsible for bringing Jack to ultimately save the Doctors life?

"Jack, that name really means nothing to you?" Rose asked as she stood and looked down at him.

"No. Why, should it?" He asked looking up at Rose, a puzzled look on his face.

"I don't know, the Doctor told me about going to this planet, about saving a bunch of people, and about you showing up here, to help." Rose looked away from Jack to look at the Doctor. "Is it possible that we're supposed to take him there, that he shows up because of us?" Rose asked, knowing how time was a crazy bundle of lines that very rarely went straight, at least, not when you traveled through time. "Like a self-fulfilling prophesy?"

"It could be, the TARDIS won't let me put in any other coordinates, she seems pretty set on going there." The Doctor told her as he looked at Nyssa. "But crossing my own time line, tricky business that."

"But it could be done right?" She asked looking between the two men, "If we're careful?"

"Yep, I'm sure it could be." He nodded his head as he walked around the room, setting the TARDIS in motion. Rose could hear the difference in the TARDIS, it wasn't quite the same as her Doctors TARDIS, but she loved it still.

"I've shielded the TARDIS, wouldn't do for the other Doctor to feel us here, at least..." He trailed off and turned back to the control panel.

"At least what Doctor?" Nyssa asked just before Rose could.

"Nothing, never mind" He dismissed looking back around.

"We could get there and find I'm already there, helping though?" Jack asked as Rose sent him a worried look.

"We might." The Doctor agreed nodding his head. Rose watched this Doctor carefully. He was not quite as manic as her Doctor. He smiled, and it was different but somehow the same.

"But you don't think so, do you Doctor?" Jack asked with a smirk as he too stood. The TARDIS landed with barely a sound and Jack looked at the doors. "Well, let's take a look then." Jack said walking slowly to the doors and opening them. They could see, just beyond the door there was a room, and standing in the center was the Doctor. Rose has to stop herself from running to him. That wasn't her Doctor. He was not in the right time. She'd bring everything crashing down around her head if she went out there now. There were 6 other people in the room with him, one of them was Donna and Rose didn't recognize the rest of them.

"Doctor," Rose whispered, "We're safe in here yeah?" She looked over her shoulder at him and slowly closed the door. "Because the Doctor told me what he's facing out there right now, they're called Vashta Nerada, and they are very nasty."

"Oh yes, I know, very bad indeed." He agreed nodding his head. "But we're perfectly safe in here, even with the door open, just fine."

"I didn't see you out there Jack" Rose said looking up at him. "Pretty sure you're supposed to arrive any second now. The Doctor always said you came out of nowhere and then disappeared again. Told me you wouldn't hardly tell him anything, kept telling him 'Spoilers' when he'd ask when and where you were from." She smiled at the memory of the story as her James had told it. "He said he always figured you came from the future, but he wasn't sure why or how you knew to come."

"Ok, so I can't tell him anything." Jack replied nodding his head. "Anything you can tell me?"

Rose looked over her shoulder at the Doctor. She'd traveled with him enough, had heard enough stories from James to know you couldn't tell too much about the future. She thought over the story very carefully as fast as she could. What did he absolutely need to know? She didn't dare tell him about Donna getting trapped, he may try to change things and everything would get screwed up. There seemed to be only one thing he really needed to know.

"You're going to take the Doctors place for something, when the time comes, you'll know what it is. He said he wouldn't listen when you told him you should do it, he was... He was afraid it would kill you, for real kill you. But it doesn't" She smiled at him as he nodded his head, taking it in. "Promise"

"Ok, I can work with that." Jack said nodding his head. In truth Jack was nervous, not really scared, but he was afraid he'd change something somehow.

"Remember, Donna's never met you, the Earth hasn't been stolen yet, none of that has happened for them." Rose reminded him and Jack nodded his head. "Be careful" Said told him leaning up to kiss his cheek.

"Will do, Rosie!" He said cheerfully as he opened the door and winked at her. The door closed behind him and Rose sighed as she turned back to the Doctor and Nyssa.

"What did you mean, really kill him?" Nyssa asked as Rose walked over and sat on the little wicker bench.

"Oh," Rose smiled up at her. "Jack can't die. He's a-

"Fixed point in time," The Doctor finished for her. "Yes, he feels a little, off" he nodded his head before sitting down next to her. "And you; how are you different?" Rose looked at him puzzled.

"I'm not, just a shop girl from London," Rose told him shrugging her shoulders. She mostly didn't really believe that anymore, but sometimes the insecurities snuck up on her. But the Doctor had seen it in her eyes, had heard it whispered in his mind already, and he was sure he knew where it was coming from.

"Oh I don't think so, Bad Wolf," The Doctor said shaking his head. Rose whipped her head to look at him, astonishment in her eyes. How had he known that name? Though she really shouldn't have to ask, this TARDIS knew her too.

"How..." Rose wasn't sure how to finish that sentence.

"Time and space, she sees it all, and she sometimes shows me. Don't worry; I'll have to wipe this whole encounter from my mind after you find your Doctor. Can't have me remembering something like this now can we?"

"You can do that?" Rose asked in wonder. It seemed like no matter how well she thought she knew him she was still learning something new.

"Oh sure, crossing time lines and all, running into myself is never good, but it can and does happen." He told her as he looked into her eyes. It was weird to look into such unfamiliar eyes and feel like she knew them already. "I feel like I know you already" He whispered softly, almost mirroring her thoughts. Nyssa cleared her throat and they both looked up at her.

"I'm going to go to my room for a bit." She said shaking her head as she walked away.

"Is she ok?" Rose wondered after Nyssa was gone.

"Yes, she'll be fine." The Doctor looked at the hall way she had just walked down. "I think she's having a harder time losing Adric then she'll let on." He sighed and Rose again wondered what happened, but didn't want to push.

"Tell me about Bad Wolf?" He asked as looking at her again. He could see the gold, shimmering just below the surface of her eyes, not something a normal human would see, but he was far from human. He wondered if she knew it was still there. How could her Doctor have missed it? He must have known? Rose nodded her head as she leaned back against the wall.

"It started with my first Doctor, I've been through a regeneration with you, you know?" She said smiling at the memory, "Course you failed to tell me you could change your face, before you, ya know, changed it."

"Daft alien me," He told her and she laughed.

"Yeah, you've told me that before." She took a deep breath and she thought back to those days. It had been a while since she told this story. "So we all got trapped on this game station, Me, Jack, and my Doctor..."

~*~*~*~*~11~*~*~*~*~*~

The Doctor was running around his control panel franticly now, trying to get answers. He heard Rose, he was sure he had. But she was in another dimension, living the life with the other him. The life he could never have. Boy even in his head he sounded bitter. He pulled his screen around to face him.

"You will show me!" He yelled as the TARDIS displayed a readout of the recent repairs he'd made. "This isn't what I want to see!" He tossed the screen away from him and tried to get something to work.

" _Bad Wolf'_ the Doctor whirled around at the words, looking for their source, but of course, they again came from now where.

"What is going on?!" He demanded to no one. He couldn't decide if this was good or bad, but he wasn't getting any answers here. There was still something tugging at his mind as he tried in vain to get his TARDIS to tell him something, anything about what was going on.

~*~*~*~*~*~5~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rose had finished her story about an hour ago. Jack was still not back, and she was beginning to worry. The Doctor had gone and gotten them some tea, and they sat in the control room, waiting. They had talked a bit, Rose had told him about James. About how James had come to be, and how the other Doctor had left them on that beach.

"Why did he leave you there?" the Doctor asked her sipping his tea.

"He was scared, I think. Of watching me die." She told him sadly. The Doctor wondered if that was really something the other him needed to worry about. "Wanted me to 'Have the life he couldn't.' He's a little rubbish sometimes." She explained.

"Yeah, I am," He agreed. Wondering if he should say anything about that small gold fleck he kept seeing in her eyes, or leave it for the other him.

"Sometimes I wish he didn't leave me there. I wish I could have stayed with him. But at the same time, I couldn't imagine not having what I did with James." She said softly, hanging her head, she felt a tear hit her hand; she hadn't really realized she was crying. She felt so conflicted, she wanted to find her Doctor, but what did that say about her life with James?

"Well, and you wouldn't want to give up this," He said placing three fingers on her belly and she jerked her head up to look at him.

"How could you know?" She asked shocked. "I only just found out before James died." She sighed and pushed up from her seat. "I never got to tell him." She put her hands on her belly. She'd pushed it to the back of her mind when things went really south for James.

"The TARDIS told me," he explained simply. "She scans everyone who comes aboard."

"Ah, right, course she does." Rose said nodding her head. "I haven't had time to check, has the baby got-

"Two hearts?" the Doctor finished for her. She nodded her head and the Doctor stood. He held out his hand to her and she took it. He led her over to the little screen on his control panel and pushed a few buttons. After a few seconds a sound filled the TARDIS, a double heartbeat, what a wonderful sound. Tears fell down her face as she smiled widely.

"And you're sure it's not-

"Twins, yeah it's not, here, look," The Doctor pointed to the screen and Rose stepped closer and looked at it. It wasn't very big, and Rose wondered how the TARDIS was doing this, but she could see the baby, almost like an ultra sound, but clearer.

"It's not that big." Rose said, worry in her voice. "I figured I was at least 3 months along."

"Ah, well, it'll probably be a slightly longer than normal pregnancy, what with the Time Lord DNA and all," He told her as she stared at the small baby. "I could tell you, what you're having, if you like?"

"You can tell already?" Rose wondered, not taking her eyes off the screen.

"Yeah, the TARDIS is pretty-

"Fantastic" Rose cut him off, smiling. "Yeah, I know" She finally looked up at him and nodded her head. "Yeah, I'd like to know."

"It's a girl," The Doctor told her.

~*~*~*~*~*~10~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jack was sitting in a chair, the power cables resting on his lap. He was watching the unconscious Doctor on the ground a few feet in front of him. He smiled a little at the memory of punching him in the face. He didn't want to admit it, but it had felt pretty good. He may still have a bit of pent up anger directed towards him.

"Man, I hope you're right Rosie," He said softly as the Doctor began to stir.

"Oh no, no Jack" The Doctor said sitting up, pulling on the handcuffs currently holding him in place. "What do you think you're doing? That's my job!"

"I think you'll find it's not," Jack said smiling broadly at the Doctor.

"Why am I handcuffed? Why do you even have hand... no, never mind." The Doctor shook his head and looked up at Jack. Jack smirked at him and wiggled his eye brows at him.

"Wouldn't you like to know," He said smiling broadly at the Doctor.

"This will kill you!" The Doctor told him, "Really kill you, never wake up kill you," The Doctor tried to explain to him.

"I don't think it will though, and it will kill you for sure," Jack told him, putting all his faith in Rose's words. "I've timed it for the end of the count down. There'll be a blip in the command flow. That way it should improve our chances of a clean download."

"Jack, I can't be responsible for your death, not again." The Doctor pleaded with him, his voice filled with pain.

"I'll be fine, just watch," Jack said as the computer counted down the seconds.

"Six...Five...four" Jack smiled widely at the Doctor and took a deep breath. He wished the Doctor would stop worrying; he hated the pained look on his face.

"See you on the other side," He told him with a wiggle of his eyebrows. He placed the electrical ring on his head and took a deep breath.

"Three...Two...One" Jack connected the power cables, there was a blinding light and the whole room seemed to shake with the energy release. The Doctors sonic screw driver rolled towards him just close enough he could reach it with his foot. He pulled it up to his hand and grabbed it. It took him an agonizingly long time to get the right setting to undo the handcuffs. He jumped up and rushed over to Jack and took a deep breath. He reached out to check for a pulse.

"Miss me?" The Doctors hand stopped halfway to Jack's neck. Jack winced a little as he moved his head a bit.

"It really didn't kill you," The Doctors voice was filled with wonder. "You knew, how could you know it wouldn't kill you?"

"Spoilers" Jack said weakly as he took a very deep breath. "Promise, I'll tell you someday," Jack rolled his shoulders, a bit stiff, "going to be sore tomorrow."

"You gonna tell me how you got here now?" The Doctor asked looking pointedly at his wrist, where his vortex manipulator used to be.

"Nope" Jack said shaking his head as he stood, happy to find his legs were not weak. "In fact, I gotta go, places to go, people to see." Jack smiled knowingly, wishing he could tell him where he was headed and who he was headed there with. Jack turned to walk away from the Doctor but the hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Jack" The Doctor said and he turned his head to look at him. "Thank you"

"You can make it up to me later," Jack flited with a wink. The Doctor laughed and turned his head when he heard Donna call his name. When he turned back Jack was gone. The Doctor nodded his head and turned to walk towards Donna's voice. He'd get the explanation out on him someday.

~*~*~*~*~5~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rose was sitting on the wicker bench, both hands resting on her belly as she thought about what the Doctor had told her. She was having a little girl. A little Time Lord girl, a Time Lady? She wondered. She wished she knew what James would have thought of this. She wished again she'd had time to tell him. She closed her eyes as she thought about the last time she'd been with James, right before things had gotten really bad. He'd planned a dinner, a romantic night in, seeing as they didn't go out much those days. They could never tell when a debilitating headache would strike and leave him nearly immobile. He'd had to talk her into it, she was sure she was going to hurt him. Afterwards they'd talked until the sun started to peak through the window in the morning.

As the sun had come up Rose had broken down and cried in his arms. She was finally coming to terms with the fact that she was going to lose him, and soon. He'd held her as she cried, smoothing out her hair and murmuring softly to her. She wished she'd known then, so she could tell him, they were going to be parents.

"Rose?" The Doctor asked as he put his hand on her shoulder. She jumped as she came out of her memories. She looked up at the Doctor and smiled through the tears that wanted to fall.

"Sorry, I was just thinking." She told him standing. "What time is it? Is Jack back yet?"

"No, he's still not-

"Rosie!" they both looked towards the door as Jack knocked on it. Rose ran to the door and pulled it open.

"Oh Jack, I was starting to worry" Rose whispered as she hugged him. The tears she'd held in when the Doctor had told her she was having a girl, and as she'd remembered her Doctor finally fell as Jack held her. He looked up at the Doctor a questioning look on his face. The Doctor just shook his head softly and turned to walk out of the control room. He knew she needed someone familiar for the moment. When Rose finally seemed to have a bit of control Jack pulled her back and looked down at her.

"What happened Rose?" He asked, hating to see her like this.

"I'm pregnant, it's a little girl" She told him softly, "I never got to tell him."

"Oh Rosie" Jack murmured pulling her back against his chest. "I'm sorry"

"I just feel so lost." Rose said pulling away to wipe her eyes with the balls of her hands. "Part of me wants to find him, my Doctor. Part of me feels like I need to find him, part of me misses him like nothing I've ever missed. But then I think about James and I feel like I'm betraying him by finding the Doctor. Like what I had with him meant nothing." Rose ran her hands through her hair and shook her head. "And what am I going to say to him anyway?!" She demanded now. Not quite yelling, but Jack knew she was close. "I know you left me on that beach with the other you, but he died and I'm having his baby, so I thought I'll find you, I mean it's the next best thing right?!" She ended with a shout and then slid against the wall to the floor resting her head in her hands as she sobbed. Jack sat down next to her, and wrapped and arm around her and pulled her into him. She was shaking with the tears now, Jack shifted then pretty much pulled her into his lap.

"There is no way, on any earth, that your James would have wanted you to stay in that other world, where you and I both know you would have gone insane from loneliness. He'd want you to do this; I think some part of you must know he'd want you to do this." Jack whispered softly to her. She was still crying, but the shaking had stopped and she was silent now, her head resting against his chest. "The Doctor loves you, whether he's part human or full Time Lord. And the Doctor isn't going to turn you away, no matter what you tell him." Jack rubbed her back as he spoke. She sighed deeply and after a few seconds of silence Jack realized she was asleep. "I'm so sorry Rose," he said, his voice below a whisper. "None of this is fair," Jack rested his head against the wall as he held her in his arms and let her sleep. Something told him she didn't sleep very well these days.

~*~*~*~*~11~*~*~*~*~

The Doctor sat back and sighed deeply as he pushed the wires away from him. He'd done everything he could think of to get the TARDIS to talk to him. But she wasn't saying anything. She was being stubbornly silent.

"Why?" He shouted at the TARDIS. "Why won't you tell me what's going on?" He stood up and glared at the center console. "Is something wrong with Rose?" She was still silent. "Fine, I'm done!" He said as he pounded on the console. "If you won't tell me what's going on I'm going to go do something." The Doctor swung the monitor over and fiddled with the controls. He was trying to put in coordinates, any coordinates. He just wanted to go somewhere, get this all off his mind.

"Oh now you wanna work?" He asked as she shot to life, the screen filling with coordinates. "Why would we wanna go to London 2007?" He asked before the TARDIS started up of her own accord and set off to the coordinates.

~*~*~*~*~*~5~*~*~*~*~*~

Jack came awake to the sounds of the TARDIS starting up. He looked up as the Doctor came running into the room. He looked confused as he started messing about at the console. Jack nudged Rose softly and she came awake with a yawn. She blinked her eyes a few times and gave Jack a small smile.

"I haven't slept like that in a few weeks." Rose said as she stretched and moved out of Jacks lap. "Are we moving?" She asked looking to the Doctor.

"So it would seem," the Doctor told her looking over his shoulder. "We seem to be heading to London, 2007." He sounded confused. "She seems to be taking us, I didn't set any coordinates."

"Jack?" Rose asked looking back at him. He'd stood and was standing right behind her now. He put his hand on her shoulder.

"Why is that significant?" The Doctor asked looking between the two of them.

"I'm from London, originally," Rose explained as she stepped over to the console. "Where in London are we headed?"

"Someplace called the Powell Estate?" The Doctor said uncertainly and Rose just laughed. "Why is that funny?"

"That's where I grew up, that's where I was living when I met him, you." She said smiling at the Doctor.

"Well then" The Doctor said smiling happily. "Let's find out why we're headed there."

~*~*~*~*~11~*~*~*~*~

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and sighed. Why, of all places in the whole of creation would she bring him here? He looked around as happy memories flooded his mind. Being strangled by a Nestene hand, while not happy, had led to him inviting Rose along, twice, and that had led to some of the best times of his very long life. He'd been here once since he'd left her on that beach, right before he regenerated. He'd had to see her once more with those eyes, since he'd never see her again with these new eyes.

He took a few steps towards her old apartment and stopped short. He turned around as an old familiar sound filled his ears. He couldn't be hearing what he thought it was could he? As if by magic there were now two TARDISES sitting next to each other. The Doctor was frozen in place as he stared at the two impossible ships sitting side by side. His breath caught in his throat as the door opened.

A/N- This is obviously a reunion fiction. I'm not sure where it's going to go or how long it's going to be. I love Rose and the Doctor together, always have. So let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter Three- Emotional

Chapter Three ~*~ Emotional

Rose stepped off the TARDIS and looked around. She was standing just on the outskirts of the Powell Estates, her old stomping grounds. And there he was, standing just a few feet away from her, a man she'd never seen before. He was tall and thin, with brown hair, it was fluttering in the slight breeze. He had a tweed jacket on with his hands in his slacks pockets, his jacket tucked behind his arms so she could see his blue suspenders. She giggled just a little at the slightly crooked blue bow tie. He had light green eyes and they were older then the last time she'd looked into them. His face lit up in a huge smile. It was a smile she'd know, no matter what face it was on.

She didn't really realize she was moving till she practically collided with him, and he was sweeping her off her feet in a swinging hug. She held on to him tightly, her fingers full of his tweed jacket. He set her back down on her feet, but didn't release his hold on her. They stood like that for a few moments, just holding on. He finally pulled away slightly, but didn't let her go.

"Rose Tyler," He whispered in reverence. He had so many questions; they had so much to talk about. But all he said was her name again. "Rose."

"Ello Doctor" She smiled at him as she reached out and straightened his tie. "You changed again."

"Still not ginger though," He told her as he ran a hand through his hair, causing it to flop to one side.

"Well, its ok, this look suits you." She told him resting her hand on his lapel.

"How?" He finally got out.

"I'm not really sure," She told him looking over her shoulder at the other TARDIS. "Somehow, again, you saved me." He too looked over her shoulder at the other TARDIS as his younger self stepped out, shortly followed by Jack and Nyssa.

"This feels a bit like 'This is your life'" The Doctor joked lightly. Rose laughed and nodded her head. The younger Doctor looked up and met his eyes and he staggered back a step. The memories flooded his mind all at once. It was as if a long locked door in his mind finally popped opened and the buried memories came pouring out. It happened so fast, but at the same time it seemed to take forever as he saw everything from his younger eyes.

He watched Rose stumble into the TARDIS, hope shining in her eyes. He listened as she told him about everything that had happened since he'd left her on the beach again. It hurt even more now, as she told him about finding she could love the human him, that she did have that life with him. He remembered now why Jack had been in The Library, that made so much more sense now. He was devastated at the memory of her telling his younger self about James getting sick, He felt his longing to hold her as she told him about James' death, how hard it was. And then at last he remembered telling her he knew she was...

"Pregnant," He whispered as the memories subsided. "You're pregnant."

"Yes," Rose said nodding her head slowly. "I never got to tell James. By the time I figured it out, there was nothing left of him but a burned out shell." The tears gathered in her eyes again. She hated how much she was crying these days, but she was sure it had something to do with the hormones. And if her mum was any example it was only going to get worse.

"I'm so sorry," The Doctor said, resting his forehead against hers. Rose pulled away after a few seconds and looked around. She needed to talk about something else, anything else.

"You're not alone are you?" She asked looking over to his TARDIS, as if expecting someone to come running out.

"For the moment," he said nodding his head. "I have friends, they just ah, had a baby." He told her, feeling sheepish for some reason.

"Bit domestic, yeah?" She asked smiling at him now.

"Well, they weren't even married when I met them," He told her in way of defense. "And really I met her first, he just ended up-

"Coming along for the ride?" Rose finished for him. "Sounds familiar." Rose said giggling a little. She'd missed him so much. She had so much she wanted to tell him, so much she wanted to ask. She looked around at Jack; he had the biggest smile on his face as he watched their exchange. The other Doctor and Nyssa watched on, the other Doctor with an amused look on his face. Nyssa looked almost, sad, and Rose was a little confused by the look.

"Something like that," The Doctor mumbled. He looked up as the other Doctor came walking over, Nyssa just behind him.

"Happy to help, of course" The other Doctor said smiling at the two of them.

"I didn't say 'Thank you' yet," the Doctor told him.

"Well, I know, but you were going to, and I know me, I'm very polite," The other Doctor said with a shrug. "We'd best be off, don't want too much of this going on," He wiggled a figure back and forth between himself and the Doctor.

"Thank you," The Doctor finally said a big goofy smile on his face.

"Rose," The other Doctor said and she turned to face him. Though she noticed the Doctor didn't fully let her go. "I'll be seeing you again."

"Yes, you will," She agreed nodding her head. "It'll be fantastic!" She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you!" She smiled over at Nyssa, who still looked a bit sad.

"Thank you, for letting me borrow your Doctor." Rose told her, wishing she had time to find out what was wrong with Nyssa. Nyssa nodded her head and turned and walked back towards their TARDIS.

"Good bye Doctor." Rose told him as she stepped back next to her Doctor. The other Doctor smiled at both of them and then turned towards his own TARDIS and stepped through. He poked his head back out a few seconds later and waved as the TARDIS dematerialized.

"So," Jack said drawing the word out as he sauntered over to them. "I don't suppose a fellow could get a ride back home, especially seeing as I saved your life." Jack smirked at the Doctor.

"Yes, let's get you home" The Doctor said nodding his head as he walked with Rose, hand in hand towards his TARDIS. The Doctor stopped just in front of the TARDIS doors and turned to look at Jack and Rose, standing just behind him. He let go of her hand and wiggled his eyebrows at her and he reached up and snapped, a smug look on his face. When nothing happened he snapped again, and then looked at the doors in frustration.

"Think you're funny do you?" He demanded, and Rose was pretty sure he was talking to the ship. He looked back over his shoulder at Rose and Jack, Rose was just barely containing her laugher. She wasn't sure what the snapping was supposed to do, but she could tell this was not it.

"Come on," The Doctor said petting the TARDIS door. "Let's give our Rose a little thrill yeah?" He told the ship. Rose's heart skipped a beat at the words 'our Rose' but decided to tuck that away for later. The Doctor nodded his head at some unheard conversation between him and the ship and smiled at the other two again. He lifted his hand up again and snapped. This time both doors opened wide and Rose gasped a little.

"Impressive," She told him nodding her head.

"Cool, yeah?" The Doctor asked as he stepped aside so she could walk into the ship. Jack watched as the Doctor followed closely behind Rose, taking in her excitement at the new ship.

"She's different!" Rose exclaimed as she spun around the room.

"Yes well," The Doctor darted past her to the control center. "Had to recalibrate after regeneration." He said all this while flicking switches and basically prancing around the two of them. "It went a bit wonky and she kind of blew up." He finished standing next to Rose again. Jack noticed that while he wasn't continually holding Rose, he didn't stay very far from her for long.

"But she's fine now, yeah?" Rose asked as she reached out and ran her hand along one of the rails.

"Oh yeah, she's great." He assured her as he followed just a few steps behind her. He felt drawn to her, not that he hadn't always felt drawn to her, but there was something new there, something different. He started to set the TARDIS towards Cardiff as Rose walked around the console, her fingers running lightly over the control panel.

"I missed you too," Rose murmured as she took a deep breath. "Oh!" Rose's hand flew to her stomach as she staggered back a step. "Wow." She whispered.

"Are you ok?" The Doctor was once again holding her. Jack stepped over too, but could see by the smile on her face, she was fine. He decided to make himself scarce. In this distracted state it could take hours before the Doctor got him home.

"Yes," Rose said her voice full of wonder. "It was... it was the baby, I think?" She looked up at the Doctor for answers, though he didn't really know the question. "It's like, she's... happy to be here?" She tried to explain the things she was feeling.

"The baby," The Doctor repeated nodding his head. "Of course," he murmured as he guided Rose over to the jump seat.

"What?" Rose asked concerned by the odd look on his face. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no of course not." The Doctor said running his hand through his hair. He stepped back from her unsure how to voice this without angering her. He didn't want her to think he was trying to make any kind of claim to the baby, though it was technically his, even if he didn't get to help make it. He shook his head at those thoughts and took a deep breath. But the baby was reaching out to him; her mind was searching for his, that was the different pull he was feeling.

"She's, um," The Doctor started and stopped. He took a deep breath and decided honesty was best. He wrung his hands together as he faced her. "The baby is looking for her... dad." He said, trying not to be to blunt. "Her telepathic mind is reaching out for mine. She doesn't understand the difference." He told her now kneeling in front of Rose. Rose nodded her head as he spoke, and rested her hands on her belly.

"Because to her mind, you and James are one and the same?" Rose asked him. He nodded his head slowly, trying to gage her reaction. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I know we're not, though," He told her aching to take her hand but he didn't want her to misinterpret it. "Different experiences, different people, different faces too" He rushed on concerned by her silence.

"Is it going to hurt her, that James isn't here?" She asked finally opening her eyes to look at him.

"Do you remember what I told you once, how'd I'd know if there were other Time Lords?" He asked her "Up here?" He tapped his head.

"Big ears and leather," Rose said nodding her head, a small smile on her face now. "Yeah I remember.

"Well, she'll always feel me, up here," He said tapping his head again. "And while you're pregnant, and as a baby, she'll keep reaching out to me, because she recognizes me as-

"Her father" Rose cut him off nodding her head. "And what will it be like for her, if you don't reach back?"

The Doctor looked down at his hands as he stood up. He paced around a little, remembering that they were supposed to be getting Jack home and briefly wondering where he'd gotten to. Rose watched him intently, she was pretty sure she knew what he was going to say. Finally he looked up at her from the screen and sighed.

"It'll be very confusing for her." He finally admitted. "Time Lords haven't reproduced this way in a very long time. But we still had children." He took a deep breath as he and Rose both remembered his words, 'I was a dad once.' Of course James had told her all about himself, all the way back. "And a parental bond was only slightly stronger than a marriage bond."

"And she'll be looking for that from you, won't she?" Rose finally got out. The Doctor nodded his head as he walked over to her.

"But I can set up blocks, so she'll stop looking." Rose could tell by the look on his face that he didn't want to do that, though he tried hard to hide it. Rose knew how lonely James had been since the Time Lords had been destroyed. She didn't want that for the Doctor or her daughter.

"Or, you could just..." Rose wasn't sure how to continue. "I mean, she's just a baby, she shouldn't have to be without someone..." she trailed off again; still not sure to tell him what she felt was right.

"Are you sure?" The Doctor asked, understanding her stammering perfectly. He stepped up in front of her. Rose nodded her head and smiled. Part of her wanted to reach out and hold him, to tell him she was here again and everything would be ok, but she was still mourning her James, and honestly she didn't even know how the Doctor felt about her now.

"This doesn't mean-"

"I know," The Doctor cut her off. He knew she wasn't in love with him anymore, that she loved James very much. But just having her back, getting to travel with her again, it was enough. He'd do anything to show her that they could do this together, Rose Tyler and the Doctor, through time and space again.

"She'll be really lucky" Rose told him with a sad smile. "She gets to have two dads" his smile faltered slightly at Roses words and she realized what she'd said.

"Not that I think you'll be taking James place, or expecting you to-

"I'd be honored" The Doctor interrupted her again and smiling now "To be her second dad." The Doctor told her. Rose nodded her head and the Doctor reached out and put one hand over her belly and one hand on her head. Rose felt it immediately, the surge of joy, love, strength and excitement from both the baby and the Doctor as they connected, mind to mind. They stood there like that, sharing in the glow of joy and happiness. The Doctor jumped back and Rose felt mildly sad at the loss of connection, but could feel that the baby still felt him fine. Jack was standing at the bottom of one of the stair cases smirking at the two of them.

"Any chance of getting home sometime soon?" Jack asked looking from the Doctor to Rose.

"Right, yes, sorry" the Doctor nodded his head then pulled a lever and sent the TARDIS flying. They landed about 30 seconds later and the Doctor turned to Jack. "Home sweet home" he said and Jack laughed, nodding his head.

"So, come see me soon?" Jack asked looking over at Rose.

"Course we will," Rose assured him as she walked over to him. "Thanks for being there for me, before" she told him and they shared a knowing smile.

"Any time Rosie," Jack told her as he pulled her in for a hug. "You let me know if you need a good sounding board again, ok?" he whispered in her ear. Surely he knew how good a Time Lords ears were, so he knew the Doctor could hear him. He wondered what she'd needed to bounce off him.

"I will" Rose smiled as she pulled out of the hug.

"You bring her back before that baby is born or you'll be needing another regeneration, you got me?" Jack said pointing an accusing finger at the Doctor.

"I will," the Doctor promised as he help up two fingers together, "Scouts honor"

"You were never in the Scouts," Jack told him before he opened the door and walked out with a smile and wink at Rose.

"Who does he think invented the patch sash?" the Doctor asked looking at Rose with a slightly goofy smile. Rose laughed and shut the door before turning to look at him.

"So, Rose Tyler," The Doctor said, dragging out her name a bit. It felt good to say it again without that little ach in his heart. "Where to now?" He asked as he flew around the control panel, flipping switches and pushing buttons.

"Actually Doctor, I'm a little knackered." She told him looking towards the stairs leading towards the rest of the ship. "I thought I might go take a bit of a nap. It's been a crazy 24 hours."

"Course it has!" the Doctor nodded his head. "Course you are. Your room should be just down the hall. I'm sure she'll show you right where it is." She nodded her head a small smile on her face. She started up the stairs, hoping she wouldn't have any trouble finding her room.

"Rose," The Doctor said before she turned the corner. She turned around to look at him, a soft smile on her lips, and he could see she was tired. She'd been hiding it well till now. The words he'd been about to say died on his lips. Now was not the time. "Sleep well."

"Thanks Doctor," Rose turned the corner and wondered what he'd stopped himself from saying.

~*~*~*~*~Rose~*~*~*~*~

Rose opened her door and sighed at the sight of the room. She looked around and saw the bag she'd brought from the parallel world. She'd totally forgotten to get it, but it seemed she hadn't needed to remember. Wow, traveling with the Doctor could be confusing. She sat down on the bed and looked at the small book sitting on the table by the bed. She picked it up and realized it was her journal. She'd forgotten she had this, mostly because she didn't write in it very much. She flipped it open and was surprised by the page she landed on.

 _Date- Who knows?_

 _So he landed me a year late! Mum was so worried and she thought he'd kidnapped me. That was hard to explain. And when mum slapped him I thought he was gonna leave me here. And poor Mickey, the police thought for sure he'd killed me. Then there had been aliens in Downing Street. The_ _Slitheen had been big smelly aliens who wanted to blow up the planet. Apparently that's more common than one would think._

 _The Doctor has the very best-_

The entry cut off there and try as she might she couldn't remember what she'd been about to write, or why it stopped there. The Doctor had probably landed them somewhere crazy and she'd stopped mid-sentence to see where they were. She thought back to that day at Downing Street, it was, she was sure, when she started to fall in love with him.

" _I could save the world but lose you."_ She could still see the look on his face as he'd said it, staring intently across the table at her. She flipped a few pages forward and stopped at a page covered in tear stains. But she remembered writing them, and she'd been so excited, she had certainly not been crying.

 _I love him!_ Was written all over the page. On the bottom left of the page were the words... _Everybody lives!_ She had known then, seeing him so happy, so full of life, that she loved him, with all her heart.

"I'm sorry" Roses head jerked up at the words and she saw him, standing there, shuffling his feet, hands in his pockets. "I didn't mean to pry, but one day, not long after I lost you, I found myself in here." He looked around her room and sighed. He stepped inside the room and Rose patted the bed next to her. "I thought, 'what could it hurt? I'll never see her again' bit thick, me." He explained as he lifted his head to look her in the eyes. "You mad?" Rose looked back at the tear stained words and her heart ached at the thought of him sitting here alone, crying over her words.

"I'm not, no," Rose finally said shaking her head. "I always kinda figured you knew anyway."

"Big ears me, he was pretty clueless, at first." The Doctor told her, putting his fingers behind his ears to make the wiggle. Rose giggled, just as he'd hoped she would. "Then Utah, and the Dalek, and how weird was it to have a Dalek telling me something I'd been denying as hard as I could?" Rose reached over and put her hand on his.

"Why?" Rose asked, rubbing her thumb over his hand.

"Why what?" He asked confused.

"Why deny yourself?" She explained. "Is it really only because I'll die someday?" The Doctor stared at her for a long moment, looking her right in the eyes. Ah, there it was, he thought, he'd missed it, for so long. How was that possible? That slight golden glimmer, hiding in her eyes. He didn't think this was a good time to bring up the possibility of her previous statement being wrong.

"Rose, I shouldn't have to tell you of all people, I'm no good," The Doctor stood up and turned around to look at her. "I lost you, gave you up, and pushed a French concubine in your face to push you away." Rose winced at the memory of Reinette. "I invited Rickey aboard just to put a wall between us." Every other word was punctuated by the movement of his arms. He talked with his hands a lot, that was new. "I can't keep any one safe. You all die, or leave or get lost. I just didn't... Don't deserve you" He finished and all the heat seemed to go out of him as he sagged down in the chair at her vanity. His head whipped up at the sound coming from her. Was she, giggling?

"I'm sorry, are you laughing?" He asked wondering if he should be mad.

"No, I'm sorry" Rose said shaking her head. When he met her eyes he could see the laughter was slightly hysterical. "It's just; James said that before, almost just like that, to me." She took a deep breath and he watched her compose herself again. "Those first few weeks after you dropped us there on that damn beach again, we did a lot of talking. There was some yelling, a lot of laughing, and explanations all around. I just can't believe, even after regeneration, new you and all, and you still feel the same way." She stood up and stepped over to him. She held out her hand to him and he placed his hand in hers. She pulled him up and he stood, just a bit taller than her.

"And I'm going to tell you the same thing I told him" She placed her hand on his chest, feeling both his hearts speed up just a little. "You don't get to pick if you deserve me or not, I do. I chose you, a long time ago, watching my world burn, I chose you. You're not the same man, but you're a good man." She leaned forward and pulled herself up onto her tippy toes to kiss him lightly. It took every ounce of will power for the Doctor not to deepen the kiss, not to show her just how he was feeling. But he knew she wasn't there yet, may never be there. So he just let it be what it was. She pulled away and the Doctor hated that there were tears in her eyes again. She swiped them away quickly and yawned.

"And now, I really think I need a nap." Rose told him softly, stepping away from him.

"Yes, yes, of course," The Doctor nodded his head stepping towards the door. "You two, sleep well." He said and she nodded her head. She sat back down on her bed as he closed the door behind him. She lay back in bed and took a deep breath. She wasn't really sure of a lot right now. She was so confused and emotionally drained. But she was sure now; Jack was right, James would have wanted her to come back here, to him, if they'd known it was a possibility.

~*~*~Doctor~*~*~

The Doctor wondered around the halls of the TARDIS. He wasn't lost, or he didn't think he was anyway. He was just trying to think, trying to figure out where his hearts where. He had so many things swirling around in his head. He needed to get Rose into the med bay sometime soon to figure out what was going on with her and the baby. He needed to find out where that gold glimmer was coming from. He pulled his tie undone and yanked it off his neck. He slid down a wall to the floor and let his head fall back against the wall. He hated how sad he was making Rose. He knew, strictly speaking, it wasn't him making her sad. But that didn't really make him feel better. Maybe she needed a distraction? Something or someone to talk to other then him. And he knew just the people to take her to, there was a long list of people who missed her, and some who didn't ever know her yet. He jumped up and ran for the control room.

"Geronimo!" He said as he through the lever that sent the TARDIS flying.

A/N- OK, I know there was a lot of emotion here... But I really think James would want Rose to go back to the Doctor. He wouldn't want her to be alone. Hope everyone likes this! More to come, hopefully sometime this week.


	4. Chapter 4- Familiar Faces

Chapter 4- Familiar Faces

Rose sat on the edge of her bed for a long moment after she'd showered and changed. She rolled her shoulders and sighed, better to just get on with it. She was pretty sure they had landed, and she wasn't sure she was ready for whatever the Doctor had planned, and she knew he'd have something planned. She was sure he (and the TARDIS) wouldn't take them anywhere dangerous, not with the baby on board. She smiled at the thought as she stood from the bed. She walked to the door, wondering how long it would be before she started to show. She ran her hand over her very flat belly. The other Doctor had told her the pregnancy would probably be longer than normal. She'd need to talk to her Doctor about that before too long. She rounded a corner and found herself at a door she didn't recognize. Granted she didn't visually recognize anything on the ship now, but she could feel this room was...different. She reached out and put her hand flat against the door. She was slightly afraid to open it, not sure what she might find. Though she was sure nothing on this ship would hurt her.

She reached down and turned the nob, finding it unlocked did not surprise her. She pushed the door open and blinked her eyes. She was back in the control room, only it was back to how she remembered it, before she'd left. It was as if she'd stepped back in time. She stepped farther into the room, it was just as it was, the last time she'd been there.

Rose watched as an image appeared in front of her, flickering at first, then suddenly _he_ was standing in front of her again.

"Doctor?" she whispered stepping towards the image. It was her last Doctor, only he was different. She looked him over and realization hit. This wasn't quite the Doctor. He was wearing slacks and a dress shirt with a green vest. It was a combination her husband had taken a liking to. "James?" she asked and he looked up at her and smiled. His hands were tucked in his pockets and he was wearing his glasses. Rose loved those glasses, even though she didn't think he _really_ needed them and he insisted he did.

"Rose, if you're here then this worked. I really hope it worked. I planted this message in your memory; I didn't want to tell you, in case it didn't work. It would only come to the surface of your mind after being aboard the TARDIS for a few days. So if you're hearing this then it worked. Once we knew there was nothing left to try, no hope in my survival, I used my sonic screwdriver, and a few things I nicked from Torchwood to send out a signal to my TARDIS. I sent it out all through time and space, even across the void. The TARDIS loves you so much; I knew she'd do anything she could to help get you back." How typical of him, keeping secrets, helping her, even from beyond the grave. She smiled even as her eyes filled with tears. She wished she could thank him.

"I hope it worked, I hope you're home, with him. This is where you were meant to be. I love you, will always love you. Just like I know he does. Please let yourself be happy. I'm so glad I got to have you, even for our short time together. I love you!" He smiled hugely at her, his hands still in his pockets.

"I love you too James," Rose murmured as tears ran silently down her face. He wavered a moment again and disappeared. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again she was standing in the wardrobe.

"Rose?" Rose turned slowly towards the Doctor. How much longer was this emotional overload going to last? Rose wondered. She took a step towards him then a huge sob erupted from her and he caught her in his arms as she collapsed. Her sobbing caught him off guard. When he'd found her in here a moment ago he'd thought she was just looking for something new to wear. So when she'd turned to look at him, tears in her eyes he'd been surprised. She didn't seem hurt, physically, but emotionally she was in turmoil. He could feel the sadness rolling off her in waves. He wondered what had happened, but knew she was in no state to tell him. So he lowered them gently to the ground and let her cry herself out.

It was only a few minutes later that she finally calmed herself down enough to take an even, deep breath. She reached up and wiped her face with both hands. She looked up at him and could see the worry in his eyes. She started to pull away, but he just tightened his arms on her and kissed the top of her head.

"You wanna talk about it?" He asked after a second. She took another deep breath and sighed.

"James did this," She said looking around the TARDIS wardrobe. She pulled away, just slightly to look at him. "I mean, he called you, the other you, to Pete's universe. After we were sure he couldn't be saved, he called to the TARDIS, with his sonic screwdriver and stuff he nicked from Torchwood." She rolled her shoulders and wished for a hot bath or at the very least a warm rag to wash her face. "He brought you to the other universe to save me."

"Well," The Doctor said, drawing the word out a little. "I'm not surprised" He smiled at her after a moment. "That's what I would do." She giggled a little and nodded her head. She wasn't surprised to learn that James had wanted her to find the Doctor, but she was surprised to find out he had a hand in getting her here. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly. The Doctor held her tightly too, relishing the closeness.

"Where are we?" Rose asked after a few moments, and then pulled away a little. "I mean, we've landed haven't we?"

"Oh, yeah!" The Doctor rushed to get up and Rose plopped over onto the floor. "Oh, oops! Sorry!" He said reaching down to pull her up. Rose giggled and smiled up at him. He was reminded that she'd just been crying by the redness around her eyes and sighed.

"Course, it can wait," He told her nodding his head. "I mean, they're not going anywhere," now she was intrigued.

"They?" She asked brushing her hands over her clothing. Luckily she was wearing just jeans and a blouse, so no chance of wrinkles. When she straightened back up she smiled widely.

"Well, just a little surprise for you," The Doctor said as she walked over to the small vanity that had not been there a moment ago. Rose sat down and looked back at him before she turned back to the wash basin, which was filled with water, the perfect temperature for washing her face. She used the little hair band and pulled her hair back loosely.

"A person surprise?" Rose asked as she wet the rag sitting next to the basin. The smell that wafted up from the water was wonderful. "What is that?" She asked leaning forward and breathing deeply and then sighed happily. The Doctor leaned in a little and sniffed.

"That's fivender," the Doctor said nodding his head. "It's like lavender, only it's from Lanex-8, about 200 years in the future. It's very good at helping with relaxation and peace of mind." Rose nodded her head, only half listening as he started in on the history of Lanex-8, and how they had created fivender from a cutting of lavender that a human had smuggled to the planet. She was so enjoying washing her face, as his voice washed over her whole body. The Doctor fell silent as she rinsed her face and then dried it.

"So," She said turning around on the stool. "I have a surprise waiting?"

"Yeah, but like I said, they can wait." He smirked a little as she nodded her head and stood.

"Yeah, but I can't." She told him as she took his head and led him out of the wardrobe, towards the control room. The Doctor was practically bouncing by the time they got to the doors. He swung the door open and Rose stepped outside.

"Doctor?" She said looking behind her. He poked his head out and smiled even bigger.

"Knew I'd get it right!" He said nodding his head. Rose was confused. They were standing on a street, a normal looking neighborhood. "Rose, I think you should go up to that door and knock." He told her, pointing to a pretty normal looking house. Rose looked from the two story house to the Doctor and back. She shrugged her shoulders and nodded her head. She walked towards the house then noticed the Doctor wasn't behind her. She looked over her shoulder at him. He just shoed her forward, a childlike joy on his face. She walked over to the house and reached up and knocked on the door. She took a deep breath as she heard movement behind the door. She let out a half giddy half hysterical giggle when the door finally opened. Of course, she thought, who else?

"Well, it's about time," Mickey said as he stepped out onto the porch to hug her. Rose hugged him back, though she was slightly confused by his statement.

"I may have told him you were here," The Doctor explained, popping up out of nowhere. "While you were sleeping."

"Come inside?" Mickey said pulling back and gesturing them inside the house. Rose walked into the house, surprised a bit by the décor, and then she saw the wedding photo over the fire place and smiled. Well that made sense; he'd never have throw pillows and candles. Rose stared at the picture for a moment, she looked really familiar.

"You got married?" She asked turning to look at him. Then she turned back to the photo and nodded. "Is that Martha?" Rose asked turning to look at Mickey.

"Yeah, and she's still sleeping so-

"No, she's not," Martha grumbled as she came down the stairs. Rose gasped when she could see all of Martha. She looked to be about 7 or 8 months pregnant.

"Wow," She said smiling between the two of them. "Congratulations!" She said walking over to Mickey to hug him. She looked around and realized the Doctor had not followed them in. "Doctor, would you come in here and say hi, yeah?"

"Yes, Doctor, come in and explain why this reunion couldn't wait till a decent time." Martha said smirking at Rose. The Doctor stepped into the house and Martha nodded her head. "So, you really can change your face huh?" She asked as she walked over to the couch.

"What time is it?" Rose asked looking from Martha to Mickey.

"6:15am" Mickey said smirking at her.

"Doctor! Rose said shaking her head. "I'm sorry," She said turning back to Martha. "Mickey, why don't you take me into the kitchen and show me where the tea is and we'll make some for your tired wife."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," He said walking out with Rose right behind him. She followed him into the kitchen, taking in the house as she went. It all looked so well put together. So much more grown up then the football and car model posters that were on his walls when they'd been together.

"So," Mickey said as Rose sat down on a stool at their little kitchen island. "Coffee or tea?"

"Better go with tea, and make it decaf, the caffeine isn't good for the..." She trailed off at the look he was giving her. "Baby." She finally finished after a second.

"You're pregnant?" He finally managed to squeak out.

"Yeah, thought the Doctor told you everything." She said taking a deep breath.

"Left a bit out I'd say," Mickey said watching her for a moment. "How far along are you?"

"Three months, or so, haven't actually been to a doctor, yet. At least, not the medical kind." She said looking towards the living room were Martha and the Doctor were talking.

"So, it's James' baby then?" Mickey asked sitting down next to her, the tea momentarily forgotten.

"Yeah, but the Doctor that brought me here from the other universe did a scan, says she's got two hearts. So she's at least part Time Lord." Rose explained, now fiddling with the tiny statue from the counter. "I don't even know how that works, or what it means for her." Rose told him shaking her head. Mickey could tell she was worried, so he shifted the conversation just a little.

"So it's a girl?" Mickey asked and Rose looked up at him and smiled.

"Yeah," She said nodding her head.

"You always wanted a little girl," Mickey told her and she giggled. "You still gonna name her Victoria?" Mickey teased and Rose blushed a little.

"Oh you're so clever are you?" Rose asked pushing him on the shoulder lightly. "At least I didn't have a fake naked picture of Baby Spice taped to my binder!" Rose joked and they both laughed. Rose's laughed fizzled out pretty fast and she sighed.

"I'm happy you're home Rose." Mickey said reaching over and taking her hand. "Our daughters can be best friends!" He told her and she nodded her head, grinning at his words.

"Oh, you're having a girl too?" Rose asked jumping up and hugging him. "I'm so excited for the two of you!" Rose pulled away and looked over at the kettle sitting by the sink. "Oh, we were supposed to be making tea!" She said walking around the island to the sink. She picked up the kettle and turned the water on to fill it.

"So, what're your plans then?" Mickey asked as he opened a cupboard and got out the teas. "You gonna stay with the Doctor?"

"If he'll have me," Rose said nodding her head. "Not sure how he'll feel about having a baby on the TARDIS though. We haven't really had a chance to talk." Rose said putting the lid back on the kettle and turning to the stove.

"Can't see there being much chance of him putting you out," Mickey said rolling his eyes at the thought of the Doctor not wanting her to stay. Rose just smiled nodded her head, hoping he was right.

~*~*~*~*~Doctor~*~*~*~*~

"Have you told her yet?" Martha asked as soon as Rose and Mickey disappeared into the kitchen, the swinging door closing behind them.

"Told her what?" He asked and Martha rolled her eyes.

"Doctor, have you told her you love her?" Martha asked, pretty sure she knew the answer.

"She just lost her husband; it's not a good time to-

"Doctor, if there is anything I've learned traveling with you, it's don't waste time." Martha interrupted him. She reached over and laid her hand on his. This was the first time she'd seen this new face, and she was surprised by how easily she accepted this was the Doctor. She'd thought it would be harder. He reached up and ran his free hand through his hair. He stood suddenly and paced around the room a bit.

"And say what?" He asked, looking back at her, keeping his voice low. "I know your husband just died, but I thought you should know that I love you?" He asked in a mocking tone. Martha wanted to smile, she'd heard that tone from him before, it was weird that it could sound so familiar, coming from a totally different mouth. But she just patted the seat next to her; he shook his head and walked back and forth behind the couch.

"You do though, don't you?" Martha asked after a few moments.

"Yes, Martha, of course I do, I always have." He shoved his hands in his pockets and then pulled them out a few moments later only to put them back in again as he paced. She of all people knew how much he loved Rose; she'd left because of it, in a roundabout way. Suddenly he was so tired so he sat down next to her.

"You look wonderful," He said smiling at her now. Changing the subject. "When are you due?"

"Thank you," She said resting her hands on her belly. Realizing that was the end of that conversation. She'd work on him more next time she saw him, if he hadn't said anything yet. "About a month, maybe 5 weeks." She leaned her head back on the couch. "My mum was about a week late with all of us, but I know that doesn't really mean anything." The Doctor reached into his coat pocket and pulled something out and shook his head.

"No, that's not it," He said setting the calculator on her table. "I know it's here somewhere." He said digging things out of his pocket. She watched the little pile grow, a calculator, a banana, a wallet, physic paper, a small doodle book, and a box of matches. "Oh, jelly baby?" He asked as he pulled out a small white bag. Martha just laughed and shook her head and he added it to the pile.

"Ah!" He finally said as he pulled out a mobile phone. "Here, this can reach me anywhere," He said handing it over to her. Martha took it with a perplexed look on her face. "So you can call us when the baby comes." Martha smiled and nodded her head as he started to clean up his little mess.

"Doctor, what are you getting all over?" Rose asked as they came in with the tea.

"Oh just this and that," He said absentmindedly. He held out the little white bag to Rose, "Je-

"Oh Jelly Babies!" Rose cut him off as she snatched the bag from him before she sat down next to him. "I loved these as a kid."

"Remember that time your mum drove us to the cinema and you made yourself sick on Jelly Babies?" Mickey asked and Rose laughed nodding her head. She popped one in her mouth and smiled.

"He gave us a phone, so we can ring them when the baby comes." Martha explained as Mickey handed her the tea.

"Brilliant," Mickey said picking up the phone. "Must be some roaming charges."

"I'm sure he used a bit of jiggery pokery." Rose told him as she smirked over at the Doctor. The Doctor laughed and nodded his head. He put his hand on hers and Rose turned it over so she could clasp his hand in hers.

They spent all day with Martha and Mickey, hanging out in the living room, or helping cook in the kitchen. They filled each other in on things that had happened since they'd last been together. Mickey told them how he and Martha had started seeing each other. The Doctor told them all a little bit about Amy and Rory. Rose couldn't wait to meet them; she could tell they were very important to the Doctor. Martha told them about how much she was loving medical work again. It was almost 9pm before the Doctor and Rose headed back towards the TARDIS. Mickey and Martha walked out to the street to wave good bye.

"Don't forget to call us when the baby comes," Rose reminded them, hugging Martha and rubbing her belly and laughing when the baby kicked.

"We won't," Mickey assures her as she hugs him too.

"Martha Jones," The Doctor said reaching over to hug her.

"Oi, that's Martha Smith now," Mickey reminded him and the Doctor laughed.

"Ah, Mickey," The Doctor said patting him on the back. "You take good care of these girls."

"I will," He said putting his arm around Martha's shoulders and his other hand on her belly. The Doctor and Rose stepped onto the TARDIS and Rose leaned on the door jamb as the Doctor walked up to the console.

"Let me know when you figure out a name, yeah?" Mickey said and Rose laughed.

"Will do," She said nodding her head.

"Rose, close the door before you fall out as I'm leaving!" The Doctor called and Rose laughed again.

"Bye!" She called as the TARDIS started to dematerialize.

"What does she have to figure out a name for?" Martha asked turning to Mickey. Mickey turned her towards the house as he explained it all to her.

The Doctor set them to drift as Rose came walking up the ramp. She walked up and sat down on the jump seat, watching as he walked around the console. She knew it was getting late, but she wasn't really tired. She looked up and realized he was staring at her. She wondered what he was thinking as he stood there, on the other side of the console, a thoughtful look on his face. As if he were trying to puzzle something out. She stood up and tried for a smile, but found she was pretty nervous.

"I think we should probably...

"Do you think we should...

They both started speaking at the same time and Rose laughed and the tension in her shoulders drained away. He bowed his head slightly and held his hand out for her to speak.

"I was just thinking... She still has a med bay on board right?" Rose asked and then continued when he nodded. "Maybe we could go check out the little one. See how she's doing?"

"That's a wonderful idea." He agreed as he walked around to her. "Follow me." He said walking up the stairs. "She's doing fine." He said after a moment. "Her telepathy is very rudimentary still, obviously," Rose smiled and nodded her head.

"Obviously," Rose agreed giggling a little as she put her hand on her belly.

"But I'd know if anything was wrong," He explained and Rose nodded her head as she remembered they had bonded.

"I'm glad to hear that." Rose said following him through a set of swinging doors into the med bay. It didn't look a lot different, except there was now a small birthing bed and medical bed for the baby. Rose reached out and stroked the wall and smiled, sending her thanks. They wouldn't need it for a long while, but it was nice that the TARDIS was well prepared.

"That's new," The Doctor said looking at the birthing area. He walked over to the normal medical bed and patted it. "Hop up." Rose walked over and pulled herself onto the bed and smiled.

"I'm gonna take some blood, just to check out your hormone levels and stuff," He explained and Rose pulled off her jacket. She watched as he pulled out a needle and closed her eyes. She could feel the cold cloth he cleaned her arm with. "Still not a fan of needles yeah?"

"Yeah, haven't fainted in a while though. They like to poke and prod you after missions at Torchwood, so I had to get used to it." Rose explained and winced just a little when the needle went in. The Doctor nodded his head, he wanted to ask more about Torchwood, but didn't know if she'd want to talk about it.

"Tell me something that's happened, since I last saw you." She said suddenly, an overwhelming urge to know more about his life. "Something happy, or funny." Rose decided, as he pulled the needle from her arm. He lightly placed a TARDIS blue band aid over the puncture and smiled up at her.

"Oh!" He said nodding his head as he pushed away from her on his little rolly stool over to his computer. "I've fought Vampires," He said nodding his head at her look. "Ok, so really they were Saturnynians, trying to sink Venice, but they were like vampires." He told her and she laughed as he put a few drops of her blood onto a disk and slid it into a computer looking thing. "Amy almost got turned into one of them, needless to say, Rory was not very happy with me."

"Once James sank a whole part of Venice, was supposed to be a vacation, but we came across an alien invasion, of course." She said rolling her eyes. "Luckily we were able to fix it, but I don't think we would have been welcome back there." The Doctor laughed and nodded his head. He pulled a little screen over to her and she leaned back against the bed.

"Let's take a look, shall we?" He asked pulling a clear ball off the structure holding the screen. "We won't need any of that gel stuff," he said and she let out a relieved sigh, she had not been looking forward to that stuff. Her mum had hated it. She rolled her shirt up and pulled the top of her pants down just a bit. He placed the ball on her stomach and she watched in amazement as he let it go and it rolled around on her belly, slowly. A few moments later the screen filled with a small almost alien looking figure. It was a bit like a sonogram, only so much clearer, and it was in color.

"Ah, there she is!" He said turning the screen just a little more towards her. The room suddenly filled with the sounds of a double heart beat and Rose let out a watery laugh. "It's supposed to be fast like that," He said reassuringly and she nodded her head.

"Reminds me of when mum was pregnant with Tony," The Doctor nodded his head, unable to speak. He'd forgotten she had a little brother she'd left behind. She'd left everything behind, again, for him.

"Tell me something else," Rose said taking his hand as she saw the ghost of pain and doubt cross his face. "Amy and Rory sound amazing."

"Rory was a Nestene Duplicate!" He said suddenly, knowing she's love the connection.

"What like Mickey?" Rose asked as the Doctor looked at the screen, both of them watching the small baby, this was way better than her mum's ultrasound.

"Little more sophisticated this time round," The Doctor said looking over his should at her. "It's a long story." He said and she shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't have anywhere else to be," She told him and he nodded his head. She got comfortable, keeping her eyes on the screen while he continued his writing.

"Ok, well it started with the Pandorica, sort of..." He said as he took measurements of the baby.

The Doctor was sitting in front of his computer hours later. Rose had gone to bed a while ago. He was going over her blood work, again. The results were the same as they had been the first two times he'd done them. This couldn't be right, there had to be some other explanation. He pulled his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. Life could never be easy could it?

A/N- Hope you like it! I love hearing from you guys! It keeps me going


	5. Chapter 5- The Edge

Chapter 5 ~*~ The Edge

It had been just a little over two months now. Two months of checking and rechecking, of research and nights spent in search of an answer. There had to be some way to fix this. And during those months he'd taken Rose to all the places he'd promised to take her before he lost her. They finally saw Barcelona and the dogs with no noses. They saw the falls of Catheranya, the highest waterfalls he'd ever seen and watched the stars burst in the skies above Distoria. He'd taken her blood twice more since the first time, all while telling her he was just checking up on the baby. He didn't know how to tell her, how did you tell someone something like this?

He was pretty sure she was growing suspicions that he was holding something back. He was sure she'd almost brought it up about 4 weeks ago, but he'd been saved by the bell, as it were.

~*~Four Weeks Ago~*~

Rose was following the Doctor's eyes as he looked over her blood work. He'd had her in here a few times this month already, checking the baby, or so he said. She was beginning to think something was up. And if he was hiding it from her, which she was sure he was, then it couldn't be good. She watched as his face ran through a few emotions, and ended on worry. But he looked up at her and smiled. She knew this face so well already, it surprised her. And she knew this was a forced smile, that didn't come close to touching his eyes.

"So, how's she looking?" Rose asked as she swung her feet over the edge of the bed and pulled her shirt down. She was about 4 months now but not showing at all, though the Doctor said he could see a small swell to her belly.

"She looks great!" He said with more enthusiasm then was necessary. Rose nodded and wondered if she should just come right out and ask him what was wrong or let him get to it in his own time.

"That's good," Rose said jumping off the table and smiling at him. She rolled her shoulders and he looked at her in concern.

"Are you ok?" He asked putting his hand on her shoulder only to remove it a second later. He'd been doing stuff like that a lot lately, touching her for only a second before he removed his hand. He hardly ever took her hand anymore when they wondered some new world, and she noticed he didn't meet her eyes as much when they'd talk. She was starting to think he was regretting his decision to let her stay on the TARDIS with him.

"Yeah," She told him nodding her head, holding back the sigh that wanted to escape. "Just sore. I haven't been sleeping very well. Weird dreams." She finished as they started towards the console room to decide on a new destination.

"Dreams?" He questioned resisting the urge to reach out and hug her, to work out the knots in her neck for her. It wouldn't be the first time he'd given her a massage; they use to take turns rubbing each other's necks and backs after a bad day, or a long adventure. But it was different now. Rose didn't belong to him anymore and he wasn't sure if she wanted to be that close to him again or not.

"It's nothing," She said shaking her head as she walked down the stairs and plopped down on the jump seat. Once upon a time Rose would have told him anything. He was starting to wonder if she regretted coming back to this world and leaving her family behind.

"Doctor I was wondering about-

Rose was cut off when the phone on the console began to ring. Rose just signed and smiled at him before he bounced over to the phone and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Doctor, it's Mickey," the Doctor nodded his head, slightly concerned about what Rose had been about to ask.

"Hello Mickey," he said and Rose smiled hugely before she snatched the phone from the Doctor, her previous thoughts pushed from her mind.

"Mickey, is she having the baby?" Rose asked and the Doctor remembered why he'd give Mickey the 'reach us anytime, anyplace' phone number. "OK, we'll be the as soon as we can!" she said hanging up the phone.

That had been almost a month ago and Rose had been so preoccupied with finding little gifts for her 'niece' Abigail that she hadn't been giving him that questioning look for a while. But over the last few days the worried sidelong glances had come back. She was going to confront him about it any day now, he was sure. But he still had no idea how to fix it, so he didn't want to tell her at all. She asked everyday how the baby was doing. And he'd tell her, the baby is fine, great in fact, but the baby wasn't the problem, or not fully anyway.

Rose looked up from her tea and magazine and watched as the Doctor absentmindedly destroyed the biscuit and jam he was supposed to be eating. She was tired of waiting for him to get to whatever it was that was bothering him. This had gone on long enough.

"Ok, that's it Doctor," Rose said slapping her magazine down. She was determined not to be sidetracked again. "Out with it!" She demanded and he looked up at her.

"Huh?" He asked, looking almost like he'd forgotten she was in the room with him.

"This has been going on long enough now," Rose told him standing up. He could really see the swell of her belly now. She was about 5 months along, but he could see it. She wasn't showing as much as a normal woman at 5 months would be. He looked up and met her eyes and winced, she looked hurt and confused.

"What-

"Don't," She interrupted him as she came around the table. "You know what I'm talking about. Something has been stirring around in that head of yours since almost the moment I got back and I'm tired of wondering what's wrong. So you're going to tell me!" She said putting her hands on the back of the chair that was right next to him. "Do you not what me here?" She asked her voice taking on a touch of insecurity she usually kept well hidden. "Is it the baby; is it just too domestic for you? Are you-

"Rose stop," He said cutting her off. "It's nothing you've done. I'm so happy to have you back; it's been wonderful having you traveling with me again. I mean, I'm sorry about how it came about but it's been amazing having you here and-

"Then what is it Doctor?" She asked a little quitter now. "You've got to tell me, it can't be any worse than the things I've been imagining." He didn't think that was true but nodded his head, she deserved the truth.

"Ok," He finally agreed as he stood. "Come on," He said holding out his hand to her. She took it and silently followed him out of the kitchen. He led them down the hallway to the med-bay and stepped inside. He looked over his shoulder at her and took a deep breath. He was not looking forward to this.

"There's something wrong with the baby, isn't there?" Rose whispered placing her hands on her stomach protectively, as if she could stop whatever it was.

"No," The Doctor said shaking his head, laying one hand over her hands and smiling at her. She smiled at the touch. "The baby is fine, more than fine. Her mind gets stronger every day." He took her hand and led her over to a table and sat down with her. He pulled open a long drawer and pulled out a small computer, it looked kinda like an iPad. He clicked a few buttons and turned it towards her. "This is a sample of blood I took from you right after our little adventure with Charles Dickens. You remember?" He asked, a slight teasing tone, trying to get her to smile.

"Trapped in a basement surrounded by zombies and gas ghosts with you?" Rose said smiling a little. "No, it's totally slipped my mind" He smiled back at her and nodded his head.

"Ok," He said nodding his head. "Ok," He said again, then he stood up and started to pace, this Doctor did not like to stand still. Sure all the Doctors she'd known had a lot of energy, but this new one seemed almost childlike in his inability to stay still.

"Doctor," Rose said impatiently.

"Right! Ok," He said spinning to look at her. "Ok, so the thing is, humans weren't meant to carry Time Lord babies. Biologically they are very rarely compatible." He said all this while moving his hands about, a lot. "But James was only part Time Lord, so it wasn't nearly as hard as it would have been if it had been you and-" He stopped and ran his hands though his hair, leaving it slightly messy in his wake. "Never mind, the point is because he was only part Time Lord you could conceive. But you are still only human," He paused again and looked at her. "Sorry,"

"No need, I understand, get on with it." She told him, half dreading what he was going to say and half fascinated to see a full on Doctor babble again. James didn't babble half as much as the Doctor, something he'd found as odd as Rose had. James had put it down to being half Donna and Donna hadn't been one to babble.

"Right, so in order for your body to carry the baby to full term it's made some changes…" He kinda trailed off for a moment then turned to the table and grabbed the iPad thing. He clicked a few buttons and took a deep breath before showing her the screen. "This is your blood tests now." He said and she looked at it then up to him again and shook her head, and exasperated look on her face. She could see the differences, but they meant nothing to her.

"Doctor, I will admit I took more classes while I was trapped in the other dimension, but I still have no idea what that means." Rose said pointing at the iPad thing.

"Your body is changing, becoming more able to care for the baby; the TARDIS is somehow helping the baby rewrite your DNA." He finally said and Rose just stared at him. She couldn't see how this was so terrible, why he'd been bottling this up for so long… unless…

"It's going to kill me, isn't it?" She asked her face draining of color at the confirmation she saw in his eyes. "Will," She stopped talking and took a deep breath, trying to hold back the tears. Man she'd just gotten these damned emotions under control. "Will the baby be ok?"

"Yes, it won't be complete till just after she's born." Rose nodded in relief. At least her daughter would be ok.

"Ok," Rose said getting up and walking away from him for a moment. "You have to promise me something," She finally said turning back to face him.

"Anything Rose," He said nodding his head. And Rose could hear in his voice, he really would promise her anything.

"You'll take good care of her; I don't want her dropped off at Mickey's while you swan off to-

"Wait, wait," He said interrupting her as he walked over to her. "I'm sorry, it's not… I don't think you understand Rose." He said putting his hands on her arms. "This change, whatever the TARDIS and baby are doing to your body, it's only going to end _this_ you." Rose looked up and met his eyes. Then he saw as realization dawned on her face and she smiled a very small, uncertain smile.

"Are you sayin'…am I going to regenerate?" She finally got out, the word sounding so weird to her mind.

"As far as I can tell, yes," The Doctor confirmed nodding his head. "I won't know for sure until, well…

"I die?" Rose mocked with a little smile.

"Yeah," He said nodding his head as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"You said the TARDIS was doing this?" She asked as a thought suddenly occurred to her.

"Yes…" He said drawing out the word a bit.

"What if id stayed on the other earth?" Rose wondered.

"I think the baby would have been fine, I think without the TARDIS her Time Lord genes would have just stayed dormant and she'd have been mostly human." He explained as best he could. He was only guessing, though he wouldn't tell her that.

"You're guessin, aren't you?" She said poking him in the shoulder. "You don't know any of that for sure."

"Well of course I don't," He said stepping back as he dropped her arms and Rose wished she could tell what he was thinking. One minute he seemed so comfortable with her, and the next, it was like he barely knew her. "For all I know if James hadn't died and you'd stayed there you'd be the perfect picture of happiness." The Doctors eyes went wide as he realized what he'd just said. He watched as all the excitement drain from her eyes, color rose to her cheeks and she took a step away from him. "Rose, I'm so sorry. That was completely-

"Rude," Rose said crossing her arms over her chest. "Rude and not ginger, some things never change." She went to walk passed him and he reached out and grabbed her arm.

"I am sorry," He said and she nodded her head.

"I know you are." She said and he let her go and watched as she walked out of the med bay. She walked quickly back to her room and locked the door behind her as she kicked off her shoes and sprawled out in her bed. She missed James, so badly; it was a constant ach in her heart. But she was still happy to be back on the TARDIS. He was right though; if James had lived they would be happy, very happy. But he hadn't and she needed to figure out what she wanted being back here, on the TARDIS with the Doctor.

He sat under the grating in the TARDIS's control room, fiddling with something that probably didn't need to be fiddled with. He hated that he was actively jealous of a dead man, a dead man who was pretty much him. Some days it took everything in him not to blurt out how he was feeling about her. Just tell her everything and see when the cards fell. Oh how he wished he'd been brave, that day on Bad Wolf Bay, brave enough to say it. Instead he let his meta-crisis say it for him and he'd regretted it ever since. He had to hold back touching her, because every time he did he wanted to pull her against him and finally kiss her. He looked up when he heard footsteps on the stairs. He could hide under here. She wouldn't bother him if he didn't come out.

"Ok, I think it's time I met Amy and Rory," He pulled himself over the grating just enough to look at her. Or not. She looked totally normal, a small smile on her face. He eyes weren't puffy, so she hadn't been crying. Well, that was good right?

"O…k?" He said pulling himself up onto the grating. "I, um… Have to call first," He mumbled sheepishly and Rose laughed.

"Why?" She asked walking over to sit down in the jump seat.

"Amy… makes me," He told her and the blush creeping up his cheeks just made her giggle. She could tell that Amy meant a lot to him, from the little he'd told her about her. She did really want to met her.

"Oh I like her already." Rose said as she watched him lift up the phone on the console. A thought occurred to her and she sobered a little. "Have you told them, you know, about me?"

"About your existence or the fact that you're back?" He asked and Rose could see he was trying to avoid the question. He didn't look at her or go to dial.

"Either? Both?" Rose asked with a challenging tone to her voice now.

"No," He said quietly shaking his head, still not meeting her eyes.

"Bloody hell, I'm Sarah Jane," Rose said as she rolled her eyes. She knew that the old him had told Martha about her, so to know that this new him hadn't said anything about her made her sure he wasn't as happy to have her back as he professed.

"It was a little different this time." He told her, his tone had changed too, it had gone slightly hard, and he still wouldn't meet her eyes.

"How?" Rose asked, she wasn't sure what she was doing. She was actively picking a fight with the Doctor. She hadn't meant to, at least, she didn't think she had. When she came out here it was to suggest a change of venue, to put his 'foot in mouth' episode behind them, but then the question had popped into her head, and now she had to know.

"Rose let's not do this now, yeah?" He said putting the unused phone down. He didn't think they'd be seeing Amy and Rory right now. He wasn't ready for this, there were a thousand voices in his head telling him to walk away and leave her be. But there was one voice telling him to step up and stop being such an idiot, he wasn't surprised that the voice had a northern accent.

"Let's not do what now?" She asked jumping off the chair and walking over to him. "Why was it different? I mean, we were close, but so were you and Sarah Jane, I could tell, you guys were great friends."

"I just couldn't," He finally said walking past her. She almost let him go, almost let him walk away and drop the whole thing. But she just couldn't, she had to know, right now. If there was a possibility that she was going to live as long a life as him she needed to know where they stood.

"Damn it Doctor!" She yelled and he whirled around to look at her. She was surprised by the raw emotion on his face. This was it, she knew. She couldn't step away and let things go back to the status quo; she needed to break down this last wall even if it changed things forever. "Why couldn't you tell them?" She finally asked, her voice quiet but intense. He took two steps towards her and was standing right in front of her. She could see in his eyes, he was waging the same war she'd been waging for the last few months now. Where did they stand?

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he watched her eyes. "Because," he said in almost a growl as he took another step towards her, pushing her back against the railing. "It hurt too damn much," he whispered and before she could think about what he'd said his lips were crashing down on hers. Her heart was racing as he kissed her. It only took a moment's hesitation before she wrapped her arms around his neck, one hand going straight into his hair. It was just as soft as it looked. She could feel his double heart beat as he pressed against her, his hand now holding the back of her neck. Rose couldn't believe this was happening, he was kissing her. She heard herself moan softly as he ran his free hand down her side, resting it under her jacket on her hip. Rose pulled back slightly to repossession her head and deepened the kiss.

She used one hand to explore the Doctors arm and chest while she held tight to him with the other. The Doctor pulled his hands away only to replace them on her shoulders to push her jacket down off her shoulders. Rose put both her arms down for just a moment and the jacket slide off. She went right back to her exploring, reaching up to loosen his bow-tie.

"I love this bow-tie," She murmured against his lips as she slid it off his neck. He smiled under her lips. He wondered, when he first put it on, what she might think of it. The bow-tie fell on the floor, next to her jacket. His hand slipped under her shirt and Rose moaned low into his mouth as his hand slid up her side, skin to skin. She felt the almost indistinguishable change in him almost instantly.

So she was only half surprised when the Doctor jerked away suddenly. She was chilled from the sudden loss of his body against hers. His eyes were hazy from the kiss. His jacket and hair were rumpled and his breath was shallow, as was hers. She'd known him long enough to know what he was going to say, but she let him say it anyway.

"I'm sorry," He started, taking a step back from her as he cupped the back of his neck and stared at her. Rose sighed and nodded her head as she stepped to him again and placed her hand on his chest. She felt his hearts; they were still beating wildly in his chest. At least he hadn't simply turned and run away from this.

"Why?" She asked looking him in the eyes.

"Rose, you just lost your husband, you must be-

"I must be what?" Rose demanded grabbing his shirt as he tried to step back. He could have broken her hold on his shirt easily, but he knew the hold she had on his hearts was another matter entirely. "Grieving? Emotionally unstable? Heartbroken?" She laughed, but it held nothing but bitterness and stabbed right through him. "I think I've been grieving in one way or the other, since the day I met you." She registered the shock and hurt that ran across his face but she went on. "And yet I've regretted nothing that I've ever done, nothing I've ever seen. I love you Doctor, I love James, I always will, but I love you Doctor." She released him and waited as he stepped back from her and wondered if her heart could handle losing him again.

"I just think we should give it time, for both of us to adjust to..." He trailed off, he knew her, just as well as she knew him, so he knew that look as well. "And your emotions are unpredictable at the moment, being 5 months-

"I swear, if you finish that sentence I will slap you into your next regeneration." Rose practically growled it at him as she invaded his space again. She placed her hand on his chest again, resting between his hearts. She just stood there for a moment, gathering her strength. "I have been thinking about this since the moment the other you said he could take me home. I want to be here, I'll always morn what I lost, but I want to be here, with you." Now she dropped her hand and stepped back and sighed. "You need to decide what you want Doctor."

She met his eyes for just a moment then turned and walked up the stairs and out of the console room. He just stared at the doorway she'd walked out of. What should he do now? Go after her? And say what? He loved her; there was no doubt about that. He never wanted her to leave, he needed her. But was he brave enough to take that final step off the ledge? He decided to finish what he'd been doing when she came in. Maybe they both needed some time.

Rose pulled out her phone and stared at it. She'd been sitting on her bed for nearly an hour now. She'd hoped he'd come and find her by now. She'd really gone and done it now, hadn't she? He was going to boot her for sure now. And even if he didn't, even if he wanted her to stay, things would never be as they were. She was just working up the courage to make a call when her phone started to ring. She let out a laughing sob as she flipped open the phone and answered it.

"Jack," She sobbed into the phone. "I've ruined it,"

"I don't think you have," He said, only his voice didn't come out of the phone. Her head whipped up and she jumped up and ran over to him. She hadn't even heard the door open. He opened his arms to her and she rested her head on his shoulder as she tried to regain control over herself again.

"How did you get here?" She whispered between sobs.

"He picked me up about 10 minutes ago, said he thought you might need me," He walked them back over to her bed. "You wanna tell me what's happened?"

A/N- Sorry this took so long to get out! We had a sudden move come up, and then there was dealing with the end of the school stuff for my kids. I'm hoping over the summer I'll have more time to write. Hope you enjoy! I didn't really intend this story to be so angsty, but that seems to be where it went anyway. I'm hoping for a little lightheartedness in the next chapter.


	6. Chapter 6- Questions

Chapter 6 ~*~ Questions

Jack sat on Rose's bed as she told him the story. It had been a little over two months since he'd seen her. He was surprised to see that she was just barely showing still. If one wasn't looking for it you wouldn't even know she was pregnant. He wondered how long it would be before she really started to show. She had been telling him all about the last two months. About the starts and stops with the Doctor. About how he seemed so affectionate with her one minute and distant the next. Then she told him about the kiss in the console room. The steamy, heated, half angry half desperate kiss. How it was so very different, but at the same time it was so familiar. And now she was afraid she'd pushed him too far. He was going to do what he always did, and push her away. Only this time Rose wasn't going to be able to stand by and just be his friend.

"I'll have to leave Jack," She told him as she paced back and forth in front of him. She ran her hands through her hair and Jack wondered if she realized how many of the Doctors little tics she'd picked up. "I can't lose him again, not like that. I'll have to go; maybe I can stay with Mickey until I can get on my feet." Jack just shook his head as he stood.

"You're being a bit daft, I'll help you however you need, even though you won't need it, because the Doctor loves you and he's just being a bit thick right now." Jack told her as she met his eyes. "I've no doubt about it." Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I hope you're right," Rose said leaning in to hug him. Jack wrapped his arms around her and smiled.

"Really, it sounds to me like he's worrying about the same things as you," Jack said patting her back reassuringly. "He's afraid he's going to push you too far to fast before you're ready, and then you're going to leave," Jack told her and she took a deep breath, hoping he was right.

"I don't want to go anywhere," Rose told him and he nodded his head. He really hopped these two could get this worked out fast. He didn't know a lot about pregnancy, but he did know stress was not good.

"I know you don't," He told her pulled away just a little to look at her. "Let's got see if we can't find- He was cut off abruptly as the TARDIS shook violently, sending them both to the floor. "Are you ok?!" Jack asked looking up at Rose, who'd landed sprawled out on top of him.

"Yeah, fine," She said looking around as the TARDIS jerked, making the room shake as though they were in an earthquake. "Are we still on earth?" Rose asked as they both stood, unsteadily to their feet, holding on to the chairs and the wall as they made their way towards the door.

"Far as I know we are," Jack said pulling the door open. They walked down the hall; the whole place was swaying now, like they were on a ship in rough seas. When they got to the console room the Doctor was running around the console, yelling as he pushed and pulled buttons and levers.

"NO!" He yelled and slammed his hand down on a purple button. "Oh no you don't," He said now, almost gleefully. "Ah, Rose, Jack, someone's trying to use a transmat beam on us again!" He hollered and Rose thought this Doctor was a little more manic then her last.

"Are we in trouble?" Rose asked at the same time Jack said "Are we still on earth?"

"No, course not, I put in much stronger shields after the Game Station," The Doctor said looking at Rose, with a smile. "And yes, we're still on earth, trying to trace the beam." He told Jack as he pulled the monitor over to him and typed madly away at the key board.

"Ah!" He yelled as he spun around and smiled at Rose again. "Think they can get past me do they?" He asked as he wiggled his eyebrows at her and she smiled back.

"Were they targeting all of us again?" Jack asked grabbing the railing as the ship shook violently again. The Doctor turned to the monitor again and pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocked and pointed it at the monitor. Rose tried to watch as the words and symbols flew by on the screen before the Doctor stopped and looked at Jack.

"No," He said, and that one word sent shivers down Roses spin. It was his 'On Coming Storm' voice and it did not mean good things were coming. He looked over his shoulder at her and she understood. For whatever reason, whoever they were, they were here for her.

"Why would they be after me?" Rose asked just before the TARDIS started to make a shrill ringing noise.

"No!" He shouted bashing his fist down on the console.

"Doctor?" Rose said pointing as something started to shimmer in front of the TARDIS door. They all watched as an image began to form. It seemed to shimmer again and then the image of a women Rose had never seen before was standing there. She had her dark curly hair up on her head and had what looked to be a weird metallic eye patch. Rose was positive it was just an image; a person couldn't just beam into the TARDIS right?

"Doctor," The woman said in a slightly echoy voice. "How nice to see you again."

"Get off my ship," The Doctor told her, his voice barely containing the anger Rose could see was boiling just under the surface. Rose was pretty sure he knew who this woman was.

"Ah, but I'm not on your ship, not really, am I Doctor?" She finally said smirking at him.

"She's a manifested image, she used my trace to fit through the cracks in the shield, to project herself onto the ship," The Doctor explained, knowing perfectly well how she'd done it and cursing himself for not having thought about it.

"I've heard there's a new little bundle of joy on the way," She said her eyes sliding over to look at Rose, then down to her stomach. "Isn't that interesting?"

"You stay away from Rose and our-" He cut himself off, but not quite fast enough. He knew, technically the baby wasn't his, but he felt a small claim to her anyway, biologically she was his anyway, he may have checked, just to be sure.

"Yours?!" She asked and snorted with laughter. "Well, that does make it interesting doesn't it Doctor?"

"There is no place in the entirety of the universe you could hide if you lay one single finger on either of them," The Doctor told her, his eyes narrow slits and his voice sharp as glass. "You get one warning, and that was it." The Doctor didn't have to look over his shoulder to know Jack had come around the console and had started working on the monitor there. He hoped he was doing what he thought he was doing.

"I'll consider myself warned then shall I?" She asked looking over at Rose again with a huge nasty smile. "Interesting," She seemed to muss before the image shimmered and she was gone.

"Ok," Rose said looking from the now empty spot to the Doctor. "Who is she?"

"She's the head of a group called the Silence, their one goal in life it to kill me," He said with a grim look on his face. "They kidnapped Amy while she was pregnant and tried to run off with her daughter." He said his eyes shifting down to her stomach for just a moment then back up to her eyes. "They wanted to raise Amy's daughter to..." he trailed off and ran his hands through his hair. "They wanted to make her a weapon, trained to kill me." He told her, his voice a little bitter.

"But you saved her, saved them both?" Rose asked stepping towards him. "Right?"

"Yes," He hissed the word out, and then he ran his hands through his hair again and turned and kicked the underside of the console. The lights blinked pink for a moment and he looked guilty. "Sorry old girl," He said as he ran his hand over the console. Rose wasn't sure how, but all the rage seemed to drain out of him in an instant. His hair was in such disarray by now that Rose wanted to step over and fix it, but she didn't move. "Yes, I saved them both, with a great deal of help. I handed Madam Kovarian over to the Judoon, that was her," he said waving behind him a little wildly to the TARDIS door, where the image had been. "Which should have stopped her, I have no idea how she possibly escaped from them." He walked back and forth in the small space between Jack and Rose. He looked up at her and smiled before he straightened his tie. "The good news is that means they will be after her too."

"I think I've got it," Jack finally said and the Doctor whipped around and stepped next to the monitor.

"Yes!" He said slapping Jack on the shoulder. "Well done!"

"What?" Rose said stepping over and looking at the monitor. On the screen was what looked to her like a radar tracing screen. There was a small red dot slowly getting smaller as it seemed to get farther away from them.

"We can find their ship, where ever they are now," Jack said smiling at her.

"What if they switch ships?" Rose asked and the Doctor spun around and smiled hugely at her.

"Ah Rose Tyler, always thinking you are!" He said as he pulled her into a hug. "Course they could, but whatever base they land on this will infiltrate their systems and we'll be able to trace it back to her."

"So, are we going after her?" Jack asked, looking quite willing to head into a fight.

"No," The Doctor said shaking his head. "It's obviously a trap," He said, in his 'silly human' voice. "We need more information." He said as he rushed around the console again, setting in coordinates. The TARDIS took off and the Doctor turned to Jack. "Jack I need you-

"Anything you need Doctor. I'm with you and Rosie as far as this goes. You don't even need to ask," Jack said looking up solemnly to meet his eyes. The Doctor nodded his head and couldn't help himself.

"That's great, really, but I was just gonna ask if you could give us a minute," The Doctor said and Rose giggled as the Doctor smirked. Jack rolled his eyes and started to walk away. "Jack?" The Doctor asked when Jack was at the top of the stairs. Jack turned around and the Doctor smiled widely at him. "I know I don't have to ask. She's as important to you as she is to me, thank you." Jack nodded his head once then walked around the corner and out of the console room.

"Were you really only going to ask him to give us a minute?" Rose asked as the Doctor turned around to face her. He smiled at her and shrugged, a little levity first might help settle them both.

"Eventually," The Doctor finally said and Rose giggled again shaking her head.

"We're lucky to have him," Rose finally said and the Doctor smiled.

"Yes," He agreed as his eyes flickered down to her belly again. So many thoughts swirly through his mind as he stared. Could he keep them both safe? Was he strong enough to go through this again, but with a child that was basically his? Could he protect Rose? And how had Madam Kovarian even known about Rose and the baby?

"We'll figure this out," Rose said putting her hands on her belly as his eyes came back up to meet hers. Now or never he thought as he stepped up to her. He'd let her go twice now, once against his will and once 'for her own good' and he was all out of selflessness. He reached up and cupped her cheek in his palm, his thumb tracing her bottom lip gently. She looked up and locked eyes with him, and felt like the whole world stopped.

"Rose Tyler," He finally whispered, leaning forward to rest his forehead on hers. "I could never hope to be the man you deserve, but I love you. With ever beat of my hearts, I love you." Rose nodded her head, tears springing to her eyes, and felt a weight lift as a new bliss filled her.

"I love you too," She whispered as she took a deep breath and let it out on a shaky laugh. She threw her arms around his neck and he swung her around both of the laughing the whole way around. When he set her down she smiled up at him, her eyes glowing with joy.

This time when he kissed her it was slow and sweet. He wrapped her tightly in his arms and her hands went straight into his hair, mussing it ever further. There was a sense of joy, as opposed to the frenzied, almost panicked kiss from earlier. There was no hesitation in the way he held her, no second thoughts now; just overwhelming happiness.

"Hey I don't mean to break up this little party," Jack said stepping out from around the corner. Rose briefly wondered if he'd been there the whole time. Then she pulled away from the Doctor and looked up at the huge smirk on Jack's face and laughed. This was Jack, of course he had been. "But I believe there was talk of gathering more information?" He wiggled his eyebrows and Rose laughed. "And I'm not talking about what color are Rose's knickers, though-

"No Jack," The Doctor practically barked and Jack laughed and nodded his head.

"Right, hands off the blond," Jack said holding his hands up in surrender and then all three of them started laughing. After a moment Rose stopped and fit her hand into the Doctor's hand. He looked down at their hands and smiled.

"So, now what?" Rose asked and they both looked at the Doctor. He looked up and looked between the two of them. He released Roses hand and rubbed his neck.

"Right, a plan," The Doctor said nodding his head. "A plan...plan, planny, plan, plan, plan." He said in a sing song voice as he walked away from them running his hands through his hair. He reminded her so strongly of both her last Doctor and James at that moment.

"You've got nothing," Jack told him and the Doctor wheeled around and smiled at them.

"Yep," He said though Rose noticed that he didn't pop the end of the word and she smiled. There were always differences. "But we'll figure something out," He looked back over at Rose. "For now though, don't leave the ship, she could beam you away from anywhere, anytime. So, No. Wondering. Off. Ok?" He asked before taking a step towards her and taking her hand again. He surprised her by bringing her hand to his lips and kissing it.

"Yeah, no wondering off, promise," Rose agreed nodding her head, feeling the slight blush rising to her cheeks.

~*~*~*~Planning~*~*~*~

Rose sat alone in the kitchen, a cup of tea sitting, untouched, in front of her. It had been a few hours since their unexpected visitor and they still didn't have any kind of plan. They needed to know how Madam Kovarian had even found out that Rose was back, and the fact that she was pregnant. Rose wasn't sure why this information was so important, but the Doctor seemed to think it was. Rose finally reached out and picked up her tea and took a sip. She wrinkled her nose at the taste, it had gone cold.

"Rose," The Doctor said coming into the kitchen, his reading specs on and his sonic screwdriver in his hands as he fiddled with some setting on it.

"Yes?" She asked smirking at him. She knew she was in danger, and she was afraid, mostly for her daughter. But it wasn't the same kind of danger they usually faced, most of the time it was 'run for your life!' But right now it was mostly sit and wait, and she hated that. She hated having no idea what to do, they didn't normally have much of a plan. So the fact that they were stopping and working out a plan before doing anything told Rose that the Doctor was really worried, even if he hid it very well.

"Is Mickey still a bit of a hacker?" He asked, not really looking up at her.

"Yes, he doesn't do it often, but it came in handy when he and Martha were working freelance for Torchwood." Rose said as he finally looked up and met her eyes. "Why?"

"We need to get into Torchwood, and Jack could do it, but I don't want anyone to know it was us, and he's traceable." The Doctor said sitting down next to her. He picked up her tea and took a drink and wrinkled his nose.

"Do you need some tea with your sugar Rose?" He teased and she shrugged with a giggle.

"I seem to have quite the sweet tooth right now," Rose said resting her hand on her belly. She smiled and poked him in the side. "Anyway, you're one to talk, fish fingers and custard?" She teased back smirking. "Gross." She took a deep breath and thought about what he'd said for a long moment. "I hate pulling them into this Doctor; they just had a baby, would it be safe?" She asked and looked at him, searching his eyes for the truth.

"I'll make it as safe as I possibly can. They can stay here on the TARDIS with us if need be." He told her and she nodded her head. She didn't know how well they'd take that idea.

"Call Mickey and ask, if he's willing to help, then that can be our next stop," Rose agreed nodding her head. She hated to ask, but she knew he'd want to help, and would in fact be very upset with her if he found out she hadn't asked when she needed it.

"Wouldn't it be better if-

"You call Mickey and ask Doctor," Rose said standing up from the table. "I'm going to make myself some more tea."

"Right, will do," He said standing up too. He was still a little unused to the idea of being able to reach out and touch her, let alone the fact that he was allowed to kiss her now. He reached out and took her hand and pulled her next to him and she hugged him. Having her in his arms always felt right before, but now it felt perfect. He pulled back and brushed her hair behind her ear then leaned over and kissed her. It was light and sweet and Rose grinned when he pulled away.

"You're getting good at that," Rose said and he smiled proudly nodding his head.

"I think so," He wiggled his eyebrows and kissed her forehead, "Practice makes perfect," He told her and she rolled her eyes.

"Go make your call," She told him and he nodded while squeezing her to him for just a second. He released her and bounced out of the kitchen. Rose laughed as she turned back to the stove to do up some new tea.

The Doctor headed straight to the console room. Jack was back taking a shower before he texted his team to update them on where he was and that he wasn't going to be back for a while. The Doctor picked up the console phone and rang Mickey.

"Doctor," Mickey said, his voice tinged with sleep. "It's 3am and I just got Abby back to sleep 40 minutes ago, so this had better be important." Mickey sat up in bed, and Martha sighed as she sat up in bed too.

"Someone is after Rose and the baby, we need your help but we're worried about pulling you into this mess since you two just had a baby as well and-

"Shut up Doctor," Mickey snapped, surprising him into silence. Martha looked surprised by his tone too, since she couldn't hear what the Doctor had just told Mickey. "We'll expect you here soon, yeah?"

"Right, right, yes...thank you," He said reaching up to tweak his bow tie. "Yes, we'll be there shortly. Should we wait till morning?" He thought to ask before Mickey hung up.

"Hell Doctor, we're all awake now, and if Rose is in trouble best get right to it." Mickey said before hanging up the phone. He looked over at Martha and sighed. "She's been home for just barely two months, what kind of trouble could she have gotten into already?"

"Rose?" Martha asked and he nodded his head.

"Someone is after her and the baby," Mickey said throwing the covers back. "He didn't go into much detail, so I have no idea how bad this could be," He paused and looking over his shoulder at Martha. "Should I have told him no?"

"Mickey, of course not, not only is Rose your oldest friend, but I mean, this is kind of what we do right?" She hugged his from the back and smiled. "I mean, yes, we have a baby now, but that doesn't stop us living our lives, and we both help others."

"Course," He agreed nodding his head. He patted her arm that was across his chest then stood up and pulled on a shirt. His sleeping pants would be fine for now. They both looked towards the door when they heard the telltale sign that the TARDIS was landing.

"I'll go make some tea," Martha said as she got out of bed and threw on her robe. She laughed lightly when she heard Abby giggling from the next room. Abby seemed to love the Doctor, because she giggled and laughed anytime she heard that sound. "And you can get Abby." She told him as she walked out of the room.

A/N- I'm sorry for such a short chapter this time. But I really wanted to get something out since this took so long to get done. Sorry it's been so long in between. I'm hoping to have more time to write, so stay tuned and I love reviews!


	7. Chapter 7- Torchwood

Chapter 7 ~*~ Torchwood

Rose was sitting on Mickeys couch, the Doctor on her right, his hand resting lightly on her thigh and baby Abby tucked into his other arm securely. She was about 4 months old now and Rose loved watching the Doctor with her. She was waving her arms about a little, smiling up at the Doctor. He squeezed Roses thigh before he lifted his hand off and reached into his jacked pocked, he dug around for just a moment before he pulled out a plastic banana and gave it to her. She giggled and put it right into her mouth, making baby babbling noises as she gummed it.

"Well of course it tastes like a banana silly girl," He told her as if she'd spoken right to him. Which, according to the Doctor she had. _'I can speak baby, didn't I ever tell you that?'_ he'd told her the first time they met baby Abby. She still wasn't sure she believed him or not, but it was damned cute to watch.

They'd landed about an hour ago, right in the kitchen pantry. The Doctor had stopped her before she walked towards the door and told her she could leave the TARDIS while here. _'I've expanded the shields over the whole house... well most of the house, stay out of the attic and the left hand corner of Mickeys bedroom, couldn't cover there, not sure why.'_ Then they'd finally gone out to see Mickey and Martha. The Doctor had explained things a little.

"So, let me get this straight," Mickey said taking the tea that Martha handed him. They were both remarkably wide awake considering it was just after 4am. "You want me to hack into Torchwood, looking to see if they somehow got information about Rose and the baby that this Madam Kovarian could have discovered?"

"Basically," The Doctor said nodding his head, never really taking his eyes off baby Abby, though his free hand had made its way back to Roses leg. "You up to the task?"

"I've built a few good backdoors into the system," Jack told him and Mickey looked up at him and nodded. "But, they'd recognize my... _style_ ," He said with a smirk. Mickey looked at Martha, who was sitting on the arm of his chair and she smiled and nodded her head.

"Ok, shouldn't be too hard then," He told them before taking a drink of his tea. "I have a good set up here, I'll talk things over with Jumpin' Jack Flash here and we'll see where we should start," Mickey said smirking up at Jack. Jack laughed and nodded his head as they both stood up.

"It's just back here," Mickey said and they headed down the hall.

"Rose, how far along are you now?" Martha asked sliding down into the chair her husband had just left.

"Almost 6 months now, the Doctor says I still have at least 6 more to go," Rose said resting her hand on her belly and the tiny bump that was forming there.

"Wow," Martha said her eyes going wide. "That's... going to be interesting," Martha finally said and Rose laughed nodding her head. She really didn't mind so much right now. She may feel a little different about in in 5 months, but she'd worry about that later.

"You're telling me," Rose agreed rubbing her belly. "I should start to really show in another month or two, or at least that's what he tells me," Rose said looking at the Doctor, who seemed to be carrying on a quiet conversation with Abby. They both sat and watched him as Abby babbled and the Doctor would answer back. It took him a good minute before he realized he was being watched. He looked up at both of them slowly, a sheepish smile on his face.

"I was just telling Abby about-

"We know," Rose said nodding her head before she and Martha started laughing. Rose reached out and stole Abby for the Doctor's arm and cradled her in her arms smiling down at her. "He thinks he's so tough," Rose said down to the little girl, tickling her tummy a little. "But really he's all fluff." Abby giggled and babbled back to Rose, grabbing her finger.

"Oi! What do you mean _you know_?" The Doctor sputtered. He glared halfheartedly at both the women and then shook his head. Rose leaned into his side, Abby cuddled into her arms. She was about to ask him something when his side started to vibrate.

"You're vibrating," Rose said sitting up and giving him a weird look. He looked up at her and reached into his pocket and his whole hand disappeared into it.

"Know it's here somewhere," he mumbled then smiled in triumph when he pulled out a vibrating phone. Rose had never known him to carry a phone before. It was interesting to keep discovering new things about him.

"Hello?" He said smiling at Rose. "Amy, yes I'm fine." There was a long pause but Rose couldn't hear what Amy was saying. "It has not been forever since I've seen you!" He told her and sighed as he listened again. "Yes I guess 6 months is a long while." Rose smiled at the slightly guilty look on his face. "I'm sure we can pop by-" He was cut off by Amy and Rose could guess what she was saying. She could bet he hadn't meant to say 'we.' "Well it's a bit of a long story." He finally said and Rose shared a small smile with Martha. Poor Amy. "Yes Amy, fine, what's the date?" He nodded his head and looked at Rose, and she smiled at him. "Amy, just as a side note, you three are still wearing your blockers at all times, right?" He asked and nodded his head, looking slightly relieved. "Yeah, I'll explain when I get there. See you soon Amy," He hung up the phone and ran his hands through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck.

"So, do I finally get to meet Amy and Rory?" Rose asked, she love watching him squirm just a little. She was going to like Amy, she was sure. She just hoped someone so important to the Doctor liked her.

"Yeah," he said standing up and looking down at her. "I'm just gonna go..." He trailed off as he pointed towards where Mickey and Jack had gone.

"Course," Rose said nodding her head. He walked away and Rose sighed and looked at Martha. Martha looked over her shoulder to see that the Doctor was gone then leaned towards Rose, who was now bouncing Abby softly as she began to drift off to sleep.

"Are you nervous?" Martha asked and Rose nodded her head. She should have known Martha would understand.

"Yes," Rose said her voice low, but not quite whispering. "He's told me a lot more about them, they are so very important to him. I just hope they like me." She took a deep breath and smiled down at the now sleeping Abby. "He never told them about me, so this is going to be coming out of left field for them."

"Ah," Martha said nodding her head. "I noticed, he's ah..." She trailed off and smiled a little.

"What?" Rose asked and Martha smirked. Martha had noticed the Doctor was a lot more handsy with Rose since they arrived.

"Have you and he _talked_?" She finally asked and Rose laughed nodding her head.

"Yes, it's a good story, and when there is less of a threat on our lives, I'll tell you." Martha nodded her head and Rose wiggled her eyebrows. That was something to look forward to. "I should warn you though, there was kissing." Martha's smile got even bigger and she laughed. "And then of course yelling," Rose told her with a huge smirk.

"Well of course," She said, as if that made total sense. "I'm glad you guys are ok now,"

"Me too," She said nodding her head, a slightly dreamy look on her face. Martha watched as her eyes darted up towards the hall as soon as the Doctor stared towards them. They were so in sync with each other, she almost wondered if there was some kind of telepathy going on.

"Ok, Mickey says it's going to be a while back there and Amy said if I'm not there in 30 seconds she's going to... Well anyway, Martha you don't mind if we leave Jack here for a bit do you? We won't be gone long."

"Course not," Martha said and then yawned. "I'll just go get a bit more sleep and let the guys play." She said standing up with a small smile at Rose.

"Ok, sounds good," Rose said standing slowly. "I'll just go put her in her crib yeah?" She said looking down at Abby.

"Sounds good, thank you," Martha said heading back with her.

When Rose came back out the Doctor was gone so she headed back towards the kitchen pantry. He was already inside the TARDIS, sitting on the jump seat, a small grimace on his face. She'd known something like this was coming since Amy's call.

"What's wrong?" She asked closing the door softly before she made her way up to him. She took his hand and he pulled her over to him so she was standing between his legs, hugging her close to him. She could feel the anxiety coming off him in waves. He was feeling guilty about something more than having not seen Amy for 6 months.

"I should have called Amy as soon as this all started, seeing as Madam Kovarian wanted baby Melody first," He admitted and she pulled him in a little tighter.

"Doctor, you were worried about us, I'm sure she'll understand." Rose said pulling away just a little. "And I assume whatever 'blockers' they're wearing keep her from being able to just 'beam them up, yeah?'" Rose said smiling a little.

"Yes," He agreed nodding his head. She always knew just what to say. She had always had the right words, even if he hadn't always noticed.

"And I also assume that if they traveled with you for a while then they know how to take care of themselves?" Rose asked running her hand through his hair. He smiled just a little up at her. "You only take the best after all," She reminded him and he nodded his head.

"And I also assume I can't have one because it wouldn't be good to wear while I'm pregnant?" Rose asked and his hand came to rest on her belly.

"Smart as a whip you are," he told her as he finally let her go. He stood slowly and she took a step back, he just looked at her for a moment, a silly little smile on his face before he nodded then started running around the console, setting their destination. She could see she had made him feel better because his manic energy was back full bore. Rose sat down on the jump seat and sighed as she watched him. In truth she couldn't help but feel a little anxious herself. She knew Amy and Rory were very important to the Doctor; she really wanted to make a good impression. She tucked one leg under the other and took a deep breath. She watched as he flipped a switch and then suddenly looked up at her. She was no longer smiling hugely at him and now he was worried about her. He walked over to her, watching her stare at her hands folded over her belly. He used a finger to gently lift her face so she was looking up at him and smiled at her.

"I love you," He said and her face instantly lit up. She wondered if those three words would ever lose their shine, probably not. "What's wrong?"

"I just... they are so important to you," Rose said as he rested his hand on her belly, over her hands. "I feel a little silly saying this, but what if they don't like me?" Rose finally asked, feeling again like that nervous, insecure 19 year old meeting Sarah Jane for the first time. They were so involved in each other they didn't even feel the TARDIS land. Of course their landings of late had been very smooth. Rose had a feeling the TARDIS was trying to make things easier on her and the baby.

"Rose, you're smart, funny, generous, what's not to like?" He asked and she gave him a small smile. He brushed his knuckles softly down her face and leaned over and kissed her tenderly. When they broke apart Rose laid her head on his chest and took a deep breath. She could do this; she was good at making new friends.

"I'm sorry, the door was open" A voice said from behind both of them and Rose jerked her head up and it collided with the Doctors chin.

"Ow!" He yelled covering his chin as Rose rubbed her head. "Are you ok?" He asked looking down at her and she nodded. She stood as he turned and they came face to face with a girl Rose assumed was Amy, tall, with long gorgeous ginger hair, oh the Doctor must be so jealous! She thought smiling. Amy had a very confused look on her face as she looked between Rose and the Doctor.

"Rory!" Amy finally called as the Doctor straightened his bow tie and then absentmindedly rubbed his chin. A thin man with sandy blond hair in scrubs came running into the TARDIS at his wife's voice. "They were _kissing_ ," She murmured to him when he stopped next to her.

"Really?" he asked looking between the two others.

"Oi!" The Doctor said taking Roses hand and glaring mildly at Amy. " _They_ are also standing right here," he walked them over towards the console and he pushed a few buttons and then smiled at Rose. He led her down towards them and stopped to smirk at Amy. "Rude." He told them then pulled Rose passed them into what was obviously their living room. Amy and Rory followed right behind them, sharing equally confused looks. Rose assumed he'd expanded the shieldsagain around their house too.

"Amy, Rory this is my Rose," He said and she smiled brightly at him, leaning into his shoulder for just a moment.

"I traveled with the Doctor quite some time ago," Rose explained hoping to ease the still very confused looks on their faces. "We got...separated for a while. I've only just found him again." Amy was watching her as she spoke, looking her over, her eyes resting on Roses belly.

"Are you pregnant?" Amy asked very bluntly looking from Rose to the Doctor. Rose let out a short laugh and placed a hand on her belly.

"Yes, I'm almost 6 months gone now," She said nodding her head and she could see Amy doing the math in her head.

"You don't look like you're 6 months," Rory finally spoke up and Rose looked over to him. "I'd put you at more like 4, is everything ok with the baby?" He asked and Rose smiled sweetly at him. She'd forgotten the Doctor had told her he was a nurse. Which would explain the scrubs.

"Everything is fine," The Doctor said before Rose could say anything. He laid his hand over hers on her belly and Amy's eyes went as wide as saucers. "She's just gonna take a little longer to bake, being half Time Lord, well, half Time Lord human hybrid, half human, ok, I'm not really sure how much Time Lord she is, she has two hearts though and-"

"It's your baby?" Amy asked, like she didn't believe him. And really why should she? She'd never seen him so much as _look_ at a women like that. And now suddenly he's got what? A girlfriend? And what the hell was a Time Lord human hybrid?

"Sort of," he finally said and Rose watched him rub his neck; that seemed to be a trait that filtered through all of his bodies. She had hoped to at least get passed the 'hello's' before having this conversation. But Amy was jumping in feet first. Though Rose couldn't blame her, it was all a bit weird to her and she was living it.

"How is the baby ' _sort of_ ' yours?" Amy asked a little loudly, unsure herself why she felt a little betrayed here. It wasn't that the Doctor was hers, but he'd never shown the slightest interest in _that sort of thing_ and now suddenly he showed up with this girl and says she's having his baby, _sort of_?!

"Amy," Rory admonished in a low voice and she looked at him. For a moment Rose thought she was going to snap at him then all the air seemed to leave her in a large whoosh.

"I'm sorry," Amy murmured and turned and headed towards the kitchen. The Doctor looked at Rose and she gave him a small smile and let go of his hand and nodded him towards Amy. He nodded his head and then walked off after her.

"She doesn't mean to be-

"It's ok Rory, I've been there, it's not easy," She told him smiling brightly at him. "The Doctor tells me you're a nurse? That must be interesting?"

~*~*~Amy~*~*~

When the Doctor walked into the kitchen she was in front of the sink filling the tea pot with water. He wasn't really sure what to say to her. She seemed almost mad at him and he really wasn't sure why. Though he had a feeling it might be something like what Rose went through when meeting Sarah Jane.

"You love you her, don't you?" Amy finally said turning to put the kettle on the stove.

"Very much, for a very long time," he told her running his hands through his hair as he began to get the fixings for tea out, he knew right where everything was.

"Why haven't I ever heard of her before?" Amy finally asked and he nodded his head, now they were getting somewhere. "I mean, how long have we been traveling with you and I've never even heard you mention this girl."

"Rose," He reminded her, with just a little edge to his voice, she nodded her head as they both sat at the table across from each other. "Remembering hurts Amy, even though I never stop doing it" Amy watched as he reached out and took a biscuit off the plate on the table, though he made no move to eat it. "You all leave, and its hard talking about all the people I've lost. So I don't talk about them. It's just a defense mechanism."

"How did you lose Rose?" Amy finally asked after a long tense moment of silence.

~*~*~Rose~*~*~

"So, it's his baby biologically because they were essentially the same man, but you've only been back with this him for about 3 months?" Rory said and Rose smiled nodding her head. He'd taken it all a lot better then she'd thought he might. But she was sure he must have seen some pretty weird stuff traveling with the Doctor.

"You catch on quick," Rose told him. "I'm not surprised the Doctor enjoys traveling with you. He only takes the very best." She sat up and looked towards the kitchen. "How do you think they are doing in there?" She asked and he smiled.

"Well, I haven't heard any yelling, and for my wife that's pretty surprising." Rory joked and Rose laughed nodding her head. "He's really important to her," He said as way of explaining her earlier outburst and looked to Rose. "She traveled with him for a bit before I came onboard, and then of course they travel alone again after I was wiped from history and-

"Wait, 'wiped from history'?" Rose interrupted him and he shrugged, like it was no big deal. "I think that may beat 'married a meta crisis of the Doctor,' but only just," She laughed and he chuckled nodding his head. It was so easy to get on well with Rory.

"Oh my god!" They both turned as they heard Amy shout. "Don't you think that should have been the first thing you told me?!" Amy shouted again seconds before she went running passed both Rose and Rory on the couch.

"Doctor?" Rory asked standing to turn and look at him. The Doctor looked at Rose and she understood, he'd told Amy about Madame Kovarian. Amy came back into the living room carrying a sleepy looking baby girl. Rose thought she looked about a year old. Her long ginger hair was rumpled from sleeping.

"What's going on?" Rory asked looking from his wife and daughter to the Doctor and back again.

"Madame Kovarian has escaped, she's after Rose and the baby," The Doctor told him and Rory paled and stepped towards his wife. "I only just found out. I swear I was just making sure Rose was safe before I came to tell you." He said stepping towards them. Amy looked up at him and sighed, looking almost accepting. Rory walked over to her and took Melody as she nodded her head.

"I know Raggedy man," Amy murmured, one hand still wrapped around her daughters hand, which was dangling over her daddy's shoulder. Rose looked over at the Doctor at the nickname but decided to ask about that later. "I'm just... what should we do?" Amy asked softly.

"We're working on it right now," He told her stepping around the couch and walking till he was standing in front of her. "I would never let anything happen to you, ok?"

"I know," Amy said nodding her head opening her arms and he smiled and reached out and hugged her. It was only a little awkward as Amy was still holding Melody's hand.

"So, how about we all sit down and you can tell us all exactly what's going on?" Rory said looking from Amy to the Doctor to Rose.

"I could really use a cup of tea," Rose said and her stomach growled.

"Ah, and maybe something to eat?" The Doctor asked smiling as he pulled away from Amy. She laughed lightly and nodded her head.

"I'm sure we could come up with something," Amy said. She let go of her daughters hand and walked over to Rose. "I'm Amy," She said and Rose smiled nodding her head. Amy was looking for a second first impression; Rose could certainly give her that.

"I'm Rose Tyler." She said as she smirked at the Doctor over Amy's shoulder. "Does he still stroke bits of the TARDIS?" Rose asked and he rolled his eyes. Amy smiled brightly and laughed.

"Yes!" She said nodding her head. "He calls her 'sexy,'" Amy told her and Rose laughed as she and Amy turned towards the kitchen. The Doctor just watched as they walked off laughing and Rory came up beside him.

"Well, that wasn't _so_ bad?" He said and the Doctor gave him a withering look to which Rory started laughing lightly too and followed after the two women as his daughter started to wake up a bit more.

"Hungy," She mumbled sleepily and Rory nodded his head.

"Mummy is working on some tea and biscuits," Rory told her and the Doctor watched them and smiled. Oh well, as long as Amy and Rose got along who was he to complain? Then he heard Roses shocked yell of "He did not!" Then they all three started laughing.

"This is not going to be good," The Doctor muttered as he followed after them all.

A/N- Thank you for reading! I'd love to hear from you in a review! Reading reviews is one of my favorite parts of writing! I'm also looking for a BETA for this and a few other stories I am working on, so if you are interested please let me know! They are all Doctor Who, Rose/Doctor based stories. Thank you!


	8. Chapter 8- Memory Lane

Chapter 8 ~*~ Memory Lane

Rose sat in the galley, her feet up on the empty chair across from her. There wasn't a lot of light in the room, as it was the TARDIS's night cycle and she'd only turned on the little light over the stove. She hadn't wanted to bother anyone with her wakefulness, and there were now a lot of people on board to wake. After they'd finished their talk with the Ponds the Doctor had convinced them (which hadn't taken much) that they'd be safer on the TARDIS with them for now. Then they'd gone back to Mickey's house to find out what they'd learned, which had turned out to not be a lot. They could find no mention of her or the baby in Torchwood's database. It had worried the Doctor enough that he'd told Martha and Mickey that they should also stay in the TARDIS with them. Of course they had both agreed, just as easily as Amy and Rory had. They'd packed up some stuff, called work with made up emergencies and moved into the TARDIS. Of course the amazing ship had made wonderful, family friendly rooms for both couples with adjoining nurseries for the babies. Rose had been surprised by the Doctor's lack of muttering about 'domestics' on his ship. She twirled her tea bag in her cup as she thought back over the huge dinner they'd had on the ship just a few hours ago.

Mickey and Martha had gotten on great with Amy and Rory, especially once the stories of all of their different adventures started to flow. Rose added a thing or two here or there, but mostly she watched as they all got to know each other. It was easy to get to know Amy and Rory without saying almost anything at all. She loved how Amy poured Rory another cup of tea without being asked and Rory handed her a buttered roll before getting himself one. They both took turns feeding little Melody bits of their dinner, making sure she was happy as they talked. It was much the same when she turned her eyes to Mickey, her oldest friend in the world. He was so different now, a husband and father. She could see just how much he loved Martha, and it made her so happy. Little Abby was always in someone's arms, Mickey, Jack, Martha, even the Doctor held her for a while as they all ate. For the moment, all worry and fear had left the building (as it was) and they all just enjoyed getting to know one another. They were safe on the TARDIS for the moment.

Martha was the first to leave, after Abby had fallen asleep in her arms. Dinner was long over and she excused herself to put the baby to bed and head there herself. Mickey left not long after, telling everyone good night. Then one by one they all said their good-nights till it was just Rose and the Doctor alone at the dinner table. It was the first time they'd been properly alone since he'd told her he loved her. Rose smiled at the memory and closed her eyes as she thought back on it.

 _The Doctor smiled at her over his tea before he stood up and moved down the table till he could slide into the chair next to hers. She took a deep breath and then leaned into his side, happy to be next to him again. He shifted her just a little so her back was against his chest and started to rub her shoulders. She was so tense, trying to hide her worry from him, he was sure. She relaxed into his chest and sighed softly, it was nice to relax, not to have to think about what may be coming, or what they were going to do about it. Neither of them said anything for a long moment until he hit a particularly tight muscle and Rose let out a soft moan of pleasure at his touch. His hands stilled for just a moment then began again, moving one hand farther, circling his thumb into her lowed back._

" _Rose," He murmured as she sighed again before he reached out with one hand to move Rose's hair to one side of her shoulder then leaned down and kissed the back of her neck, tracing the spots his hands had just been with his lips. Rose let her eyes flutter closed and just let herself go, feeling his hands on her back and his lips on her neck, it was wonderful. She hoped that this might be leading where it seemed to be, but she never could tell with the Doctor. It had been a long while since she had been intimate with someone and she was a little nervous. He reached up and pushed her tank top and bra strap off her shoulder so he could continue kissing her back. She leaned her head back and turned her face towards him and then he was kissing her and she was twisting, trying to turn her whole body towards him. As soon as she was facing him his hand snaked under her shirt, his hand hesitated on her stomach and she nipped his bottom lip and he groaned as his hand went up and cupped her breast and Rose moaned softly again._

 _After a moment the Doctor was pulling her to her feet, never breaking their kiss, one hand now in her hair and his other hand still on her breast, lightly kneading it. They stood there like that, kissing, his hand moving lightly over her breast, his thumb circling her nipple through her bra. She moaned, arching into his touch. After a moment his hand left her breast slowly, trailing down her side and he reached down for her hand. He broke the kiss and pulled away just a little and smiled at her. His face was slightly flushed and his lips were swollen from kissing, she imagined she looked as thoroughly snogged as he did. He squeezed her hand and smiled lazily at her before pulling her into a tight hug._

" _I think it might be time for bed," He said softly as she hugged him back. She pulled back at his words, a little surprised. He wanted to go to sleep, after that? Seriously?_

" _You're tired?" Rose asked trying not to sound to let down. A sensual little smile spread across his face before he kissed her, running his hands up and down her arms before he pulled away again._

" _No," He said shaking his head before he took her hand and led her from the galley towards his room._

Rose smiled at the memory as her eyes fluttered open and she jumped back just a little. Jack was now sitting across from her, a large smile on his lips and she felt a blush bloom across her face and he leaned back in his seat and chuckled lightly.

"Day dreaming?" He asked with a sly smile and her blush deepened as she smiled back at him. She reached out and picked up her tea, taking a sip.

"Maybe a little," She finally told him, leaning back in her seat. She smirked suddenly as she remembered something from a long while ago. "You remember how we use to sit in here, after an adventure, while the Doctor fiddled with something under the console?"

"Course I do Rosie," He said nodding his head, "Some of my favorite memories, from back then." He told her and she nodded her head.

"Yeah, me too," She agreed leaning forward across the table. He leaned in a bit too, like she was about to share a secret with him. "You remember how we use to speculate about just what he'd be like... in bed?" She asked wiggling her eyebrows at him then smiled with her tongue in her teeth.

"Yes," He said drawing the word out a bit. "And?" He asked and she laughed, it felt so good to have Jack back in her life. She had missed him so much back in Pete's universe.

" _So_ much better than we ever imagined," Rose told him and he groaned and laughed shaking his head.

"You're killing me Rosie!" He exploded then laughed and she laughed too. She loved that their easy, affectionate friendship had not diminished over time. It was almost like no time had passed, that any moment their big ear, leather wearing Doctor would walk through the door complaining about what silly apes they were. Then she felt something that pulled her from her memories and her eyes went wide in surprise.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked looking at her face. She smiled hugely then stood.

"The baby moved!" She said placing her hands over her belly and then laughed. "OH!" She groaned loudly as one hand flew to her temple and she took a step back and hit the chair she'd just jumped out of. She grimaced a little and her other hand went to her temple too, like she had a sudden headache. Jack stood up intent on getting the Doctor when he came skidding in through the galley door.

"What's wrong?!" He stopped in front of Rose and reached out a hand to touch her head. He had nothing but his blue jimjam bottoms on, his hair was tussled from sleep and his eyes were wild as he looked over Rose.

"I don't know," Rose said, he voice sounded a little strained. "It hurts, kinda like with Cassandra." She said, it wasn't quite the same kind of pain, but it was similar.

"Can I?" He asked nudging her hand away so he could touch her temple. She nodded her head and he rested his fingers where hers had just been. Jack stood there watching as the grimace on Rose's face slowly morphed into a soft smile and then she giggled just a little. The Doctor also had a small smile on his face.

"Oh," Rose breathed out and then giggled again as the Doctor pulled his hand away from her temple.

"It should be fine for now," He said and she nodded her head, the soft smile never leaving her face. "I'll teach you more about how to do that yourself later, yeah?" He asked and she just nodded her head again her eyes opening. She looked over at Jack, who was just standing there watching them.

"Sorry," She told him reaching out a hand and Jack reached across the table and took it. "She was trying to connect to my mind," Rose said rubbing her belly with her free hand. "But I didn't know it; apparently I had my mental barriers up. The Doctor just helped me take them down and she reached out to my mind." Rose told him, her voice full of wonder. She smiled at the Doctor and then yawned. She squeezed Jack's hand and then released it.

"Ok, I think it's time for bed for this tired mummy," The Doctor said and Rose smiled hugely as Jack began to chuckle.

"Really Doctor?" Jack said as Rose began to giggle in earnest. "Are you my mummy?" Jack said pitching his voice just a little high and Rose burst out laughing. The Doctor shook his head at them but it wasn't long before he was laughing lightly as well.

"Ok, I really should try and get some sleep," Rose said before another yawn broke free. It was so nice to feel safe enough to laugh, even though there was so much to be feared at the moment.

"Sleep," Jack said nodding his head. "Right," He said drawing the word out with an exaggerated wink at Rose.

"Jack," The Doctor warned, though his eyes held a note of amusement.

"Good night Jack," Rose said as she took the Doctor's hand and led him from the galley.

~*~*~*~Plans~*~*~*~

"You just need to practice this a bit and you'll have it down." The Doctor told her as he released her temple and smiled. They had been sitting on the bed for almost 2 hours now, working on Roses ability to put up and take down her mental shields. She could hear her daughter now, at the back of her mind. There were no words yet, just a feeling of deep serenity. Rose rolled she shoulders which were a little stiff from sitting still on the bed for so long.

"It's pretty amazing," Rose said reaching up and touching her head.

"You'll get clearer emotions as she grows." He told her as she slid from the bed and walked around a bit. "She'll talk in your mind long before she says her first real words out loud." He explained and Rose smiled.

"Will it still be emotions or will there be actual words before she's really talking?" Rose asked as she pulled on her socks.

"Well, babies, as you know, take in a lot more than humans give them credit for. She'll be using real words in your mind only a few short months after she's born." Rose laughed and nodded her head.

"Well, either way it's amazing," Rose said and he nodded his head. Rose turned to look at him as he stood up from the bed. He walked over to his bureau and opened it. He had a very thoughtful look on his face.

"Rose, did James ever discuss the types of bonds Time Lords can have with each other?" He asked, his back still to her as he pulled his shirt out and put it on.

"A little, he told me about family bonds and marriage bonds, and how you connect with the other person mentally. But he never went into much detail; I think it made him sad, since we couldn't have one together." Rose told him her voice slightly sad.

"Why?" He asked surprised by her answer. That wasn't right, why wouldn't James have been able to have a bond with her? He thought as he buttoned up his shirt. Though he was thankful they hadn't. it likely would have killed Rose when James died.

"He said he didn't have enough 'Time Lord' in him to do it." Rose explained, as though that should have been obvious.

"Oh," He said as he pulled on his suspenders and clipped them into place, trying and failing to sound neutral. Ah, of course, James knew, he wouldn't do that to Rose.

"I know that _'oh_.' What is it?" Rose asked him sounding very suspicious.

"It's just..." he picked up his bowtie for a moment to think, then decided honesty was the best way to go here. "I did extensive medical tests on him, before I sent him with you; he definitely had enough of a Time Lord mind." He explained and she rubbed her forehead.

"Then why would he say..." She huffed out a breath and nodded her head in understanding. "He knew didn't he? Way before he told me what was going on. He knew his life was going to be much shorter than either of you anticipated?"

"I'm sorry." He said leaving his bowtie to hang around his neck. He'd figured that out almost immediately, it was after all, what he'd have done.

"He said that when one of the bonded pair died it could drive the other crazy, even for years after. Which as he said, wasn't that big a deal for Time Lords. But as a human, it would have driven me mad, wouldn't it?" She finally asked sitting heavily on the bed and looking up at him.

"I believe so, yes. The bond can survive regeneration just fine, but final death, it can get pretty bad. I've seen it before." The Doctor explained and Rose took a deep breath. It was a little odd for her to see him so open about this. It had taken James months to begin to open up to her.

"Why didn't he tell me sooner?" She finally said, looking down at her hands.

"So you could find a way to stop it?" The Doctor asked, not liking the direction this conversation had taken. He knew Rose was happy to be back here with him now, but a small part of him worried she'd rather be back home, with James. He imagined James went through the same thing for a long while. "There was no stopping it."

"No, I understand that. If I'd known I might have-

"Worried constantly, stopped enjoying life, and been scared of every headache and cold." The Doctor predicted and she sighed.

"Yes, that's probably true." She agreed, of course it was true, she knew because that was exactly what happened after James did tell her. She watched him move from foot to foot nervously and realized something. "You knew too, didn't you? That it would take him eventually, like it took Donna?"

"I'm sorry," he said again now fidgeting with his bow tie and his hair. "We both agreed it would be 60 or 70 years, and by then, you'd have..." He trailed off at the look on her face and sighed. "I'm sorry." He was saying that a lot, there had to be a better sentiment; 'I'm sorry' was beginning to sound a little trite.

"Yes, I know" she said quietly, deep in thought for a long moment. Then she had a frightening thought and looked up and met his eyes. Yes, there was doubt and fear in his eyes. "I'm not unhappy to be here, now, with you, you know that right?" She stood up and took a step towards him and he nodded, but Rose could still see the doubt etched on his face. She was going to have to fix this or they might lose all the progress they'd made together.

"I loved James, you know I did, but you are _my Doctor_. If I could go back and change things I wouldn't. I will always cherish the time I had with him. But this is where I wanna be." he smiled at her a little and she took his hand and pulled him off balance a bit and he stumbled towards her, his long arms flailing a bit. She caught him in a tight hug. He shifted his head a little and turned towards her and kissed her softly. They just stood there for a moment holding each other before Rose remembered what had brought this all on in the first place.

"Why did you ask?" She asked pulling back just a little and smirking at the confused look on his face. "If I knew about Time Lord bond?"

"Oh right!" He said nodding his head as they broke apart and he reached for his bowtie. "There's a lower level bond, it's temporary, and would allow us to communicate over pretty great distances." He seemed to be having a hard time with his bowtie, which was funny, since he was normally so good with it.

"That sounds like a good idea," She agreed nodding her head as she swatted his hands away from the bowtie and began tying it. He was mesmerized as he watched her tie it, her tongue between her teeth as she concentrated.

"How is it you're so good at that?" He asked and she smiled at him then giggled a little.

"James actually took a liking to bowties, said the suit didn't feel right anymore." She told him as she finished tying it. "He liked dress shirts and vests; sometimes he'd add a bowtie to it. He never could get the hang of tying it though." Rose told him and he nodded his head, as she straightened his tie. She had always suspected James' inability to tie a bowtie had been a ruse, a way to get her close to him, back before they were fully together and the memory made her smile. The Doctor put his hand over hers, still on the tie and she looked up at him.

"You know, I never want you to feel like you can't talk to me about him, I'm genuinely interested in hearing about that time in your life." He told her and she smiled even bigger at him. "If you want, whenever you're ready."

"Thank you Doctor," She said nodding her head. She leaned over and kissed his cheek then he let go of her hand and turned to grab his jacked.

"So, for this lower level bond, would we still be in each other's heads?" Rose asked as she pulled her baby blue hoodie over her head. She reached for her jeans and he couldn't help by stare at her standing there in a hoodie and little pink knickers, her jeans in one hand. "Doctor?" She asked giggling as his head snapped back up to her face.

"Yes, right, of course," He agreed nodding his head, though he wasn't positive what he was agreeing with. "Wait, what?" He asked and she laughed and walked over and kissed him on the cheek again before pulling on her jeans.

"Would we be in each other's heads?" She repeated

and he shook his head.

"Not fully, just on the surface, we wouldn't be able to see each other's memories or thoughts." He explained and Rose nodded her head then sighed in frustration. "What's wrong?"

"I need new pants," Rose said sadly before she walked over to the bathroom, she came out a few seconds later with a small hairband.

"What are you going to do with that?" The Doctor asked and she smiled brightly.

"Fix my pants, till I can get bigger ones," Rose said, and then she looped one end through the button hole on the jeans and looped the other end over the button.

"Well, isn't that a handy trick!" The Doctor said bending down to look at it closer. Rose just chuckled at his exuberance. He stared at her belly for a moment, then looked up at her. "I'm sure the wardrobe will have whatever you might need though."

"Ok," Rose said nodding her head. She watched at the Doctor came to a full crouch in front of her, one hand moved onto her hip as he pressed his ear to her belly.

"Oh!" They both cried out at the same time as the baby kicked. The Doctor looked up at her; his eyes were wide and filled with so much joy.

"Rose, are you in there?" Mickey's voice sounded from outside the bedroom door.

"Yeah Mick, you can come in," She said as the Doctor reluctantly stood up. Mickey opened the door and stepped inside, Abby in his arms, half asleep.

"Oh good, you're both here," Mickey said opening the door all the way with a smile. "We've thought of a pretty good idea, Jack's making something for lunch and we thought we might run it by you?"

"Sounds good," Rose said as she sat to pull on her shoes. "We'll be out in a few minutes." Mickey smiled and nodded his head, walking back out and closing the door behind him.

"When can we do the bond?" Rose asked and he smiled down at her.

"Right after lunch, it can be a little taxing, much like working with your shields." He told her and she nodded. "You should eat first."

"Sounds good," She said standing and taking his hand. "I'm starving, let's go see what great plan Mickey and them have come up with."

A/N- Sorry it's been a while, family stuff. Next chapter might be another month or so, but don't fret, I'm not giving up on this story. We should see at least a bit of action in the next chapter. And as always, don't forget to review!


	9. Chapter 9- Doubled

Chapter 9 ~*~ Doubled

Rose sat at the dining room table in the galley, which was twice its normal size since everyone moved in for the foreseeable future. Jack was standing by the stove, waiting to pull something out of the oven for lunch. The Doctor was sitting on her left, his hand holding hers, rather tightly at the moment. Jack and Mickey had just finished explaining their genius idea to the two of them. Rose could see by the look on his face that the Doctor was very against it, but she though it had some merits, though it was very dangerous.

"No," he said shaking his head once Mickey finished talking. "There is no way that-

"You're making this decision for me," Rose finished for him removing her hand from his. He turned to her, his eyes wide, and gaped at her.

"What?" he asked and both Amy and Martha shared a look of concern, for the Doctor. They may not have known Rose long, but they knew she was not going to be ordered around.

"I said, you will not be making this decision for me," Rose said taking a deep breath. "It is a rather good plan, and has a good chance of working."

"It also has a good chance of you getting hurt, or worse." The Doctor said, and then he turned and glared at Jack and Mickey. "I can't believe either of you would even consider this," He berated them and Mickey looked slightly nervous but Jack just stood his ground.

"It's not as if we'd leave her all on her own," Jack said glaring right back at the Doctor now. "We have some really good tracking tech back at Torchwood. We can follow her anywhere." Jack said and Mickey nodded his agreement.

"We are not going to put Rose in that kind of danger," The Doctor said shaking his head. His face was etched with anger as he looked between Jack and Mickey. "You should have come to me first so-

"Oh you really don't want to finish that sentence," Rose said between clenched teeth, shaking her head as she stood and glared down at him. "I am not the naive 19 year old you rescued from a department store basement." She told him with a small shake of her head. "You do not get to make decisions for me; you do not get to take away my choice. I'm not going to sit back and be told what to do."

"Rose, you can't offer yourself up as bait, you have more than just yourself to think about," The Doctor reminded her looking to her belly then back to her face.

"I'm well aware of the fact that I'm pregnant Doctor," Rose told him resting her hand on her belly. "And I'll do whatever I think is necessary to keep her safe."

"No, this is ridiculous!" he exclaimed as he too stood up so they were face to face. Rose had never seen this Doctor upset before; she could see the anger seething just under the surface, it reminded her quite a lot of her first Doctor. "I'm not going to sit here and listen to you discuss throwing yourself into the lions pit."

"You have always had a flare for the dramatic," Rose said and the Doctor whipped his head towards Amy to glare at her when she chuckled.

"But see that's the thing, you're not discussing it," Rose continued as he turned to look at her again. "You flat out decided, without as much as a 'what do you think Rose?'" Rose said poking him hard in the chest. "If you'd bothered to ask me what I thought I would have told you that I agree with you, it is too dangerous. If you'd bothered to be an adult, in an adult relationship, you'd know I would never try something like that, even if it could work. But you just decided for me, and I will not be in a relationship where I'm not respected." Rose finished her voice low and calm the whole time she spoke. She took a deep breath and turned and walked out of the galley without as much as a backwards glance. The Doctor sank back into his chair, his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands.

"Well, that could have gone better," Mickey muttered under his breath, speaking up for the first time since the arguing started.

"Shit!" The Doctor said as he sat up and looked around the room. His eyes landing on Amy, his face was hopeful and she just shook her head.

"Oh, you're not going to find any sympathy here," Amy said gesturing between herself and Rory. "She was totally right."

"Oh yeah," Martha agreed nodding her head. The Doctor dropped his head back into his hands and swore again. "That was not good."

"Thank you so much," The Doctor said sarcastically, "I saw that for myself."

"Well really, how did you think she was going to take that?" Mickey said, glaring at him a bit. "Do you know her at all?" He asked and the Doctor glared at him for a moment then his face fell.

"I'll go find her," He said standing up with a deep breath. He looked over everyone and sighed, this day had started out so well.

~*~Rose~*~

Rose was barely a few steps out of the galley before the tears started to fall. She was so angry with him! She was not a child, she was a full grown adult and she was damned well going to be treated like one. She wasn't going to be in a relationship with a man who didn't respect her. She was done having him make life changing decisions for her! She stopped and took a deep breath and waited. She had thought he'd follow her out, hoped he'd come after her. But apparently somethings never changed. She shook her head and headed off into the ship, not sure where she was going.

~*~*~Rose~*~*~

Rose sat, her back pressed up against the wall, mostly hidden from view by rows of clothing. She wrapped her arms more securely around her knees, the warm leather jacket pulled tightly around her body. It shocked her to discover, when she'd found it, that it still smelled like her first Doctor. She didn't know why she found it so comforting; it wasn't as if he hadn't made decisions for her as well. But it had felt different then. Less like he was making choices for her and more like he was teaching. Till that very last time, when he'd sent her away. He always seemed to send her away, time after time. She heard the door to the wardrobe open and soft footsteps walking around.

"Rose?" She put her head down on her knees and wondered if she wanted to talk to him.

"Rose, I'm sorry," He said, his voice breaking on the last word. She sighed heavily and pulled herself to her feet.

"Yes, I'm sure you're sorry, for saying it out loud, but you still feel like you have the right to make decisions for me," She told him as he whipped around and saw her, behind two rows of clothing. His face was drawn and his eyes were hollow.

"Rose," he said stepping towards her.

"No," She said taking a step back, shaking her head. "You stay over there, on that side of the clothing." He nodded his head and his face twisted a bit in pain. She could see when he'd noticed what she was wearing wrapped around her. It was much too large for her and hung to her knees. He opened his mouth to say something about the jacket then wisely closed it again.

"I'm-

"Please stop telling me you're sorry," Rose said shaking her head. "It doesn't mean anything anymore." Rose told him and he blanched, his eyes going wide, full of fear now. "Thing is Doctor, I've always known you were older than me, wiser than me, hell smarter than me by half. I let you make decisions for me, at first, because you knew what you were doing, and I was a 19 year old shop girl from the Powell Estates, what did I know?" She said and he ran his hands through his hair.

"Rose, you are so much more-

"Yeah, I know that." She cut him off straightening her spine so she stood at her full height. "And you knew it too, it was you that taught me I could be so much more then I was." She wiped a tear off her cheek with the back of her hand. "But you still keep taking away _my_ choice!" She ended louder then she'd meant to, her hands clenched into tight fists. "The game station, you sent me away _for my own good_ ," She said mockingly and glared at him now, breathing hard as all the anger she'd pushed down and away for the last few years burst out of her. "But I came back for you, I figured out how and I came back and saved _you_!" She yelled, pushing her hair out of her face. "Then there was Torchwood, making choices for me again, sending me away, again!" She pushed one of the rows of clothing out of her way as she stocked towards him. "Then you left us on that fucking beach in Norway, taking away my choice again!" She pushed the last barrier out of her way and pushed him on the shoulder so he stumbled just a bit. She was breathing heavily, feeling a little lightheaded. He straightened himself and looked her in the eyes. She looked so sad, so lost, so angry. He wanted so badly to make things right, but he knew there was a part of him that would never stop wanting to make that choice for her, if he thought her life was in serious danger.

"What can I say to make this better?" He asked reaching into his hair on the back of his neck with both hands and pulling just a little, and giving her a pleading look. She could feel as all her anger drained out of her, leaving her feeling so tired. Her hands hurt and she lifted them up to look at the palms. There were crescent shaped marks on her palms, from her finger nails, a few of them were actually bleeding. She lowered her hands and shook her head at him.

"Nothing," She said softly and watched as his face drained of color, his arms dropped to his sides and for the first time ever, she saw the Doctor's eyes devoid of hope, he stumbled back a step and met her eyes again. She sighed; she hadn't meant that to sound quite so final so she rushed on. "What you can do is respect me, show me that you're trying to change. Don't make decisions for me unless it is the only way, treat me like your equal, like you should treat the women you love and who loves you." Relief filled his face all at once when she finished and he lurched towards her, holding out his hand.

"I do, I love you," He told her nodding furiously and she took his hand. "I can do that, I really can." He squeezed her hand and couldn't help notice her small wince. "What?" he said pulling her hand up to look at it. "Oh Rose," He sighed, his voice full of sympathy, he pulled it up to kiss it lightly before he wrapped his other arm around her waist and steered her towards the door.

"Where are we going?" She asked softly, her voice was still a little hoarse from yelling. He squeezed her hip lightly and looked down at her palms.

"The medbay, then the galley, you didn't get any lunch" He told her and she leaned into his shoulder. She knew it wasn't really all going to be solved that easily. They were still going to fight about it, and he was still going to slip up, but she knew he would really start to try.

"Oh," She said and stopped and began to shrug out of the leather jacket. "I should leave this here," She said holding it against her chest.

"Rose," The Doctor said gently taking the jacket from her and draping it back over her shoulders. "It looks good on you, you should keep it," He finally said smiling softly at her. She just nodded and let him lead her out of the wardrobe.

~*~*~Problem~*~*~

Rose and the Doctor were sitting in the kitchen, picking at the last of their late lunch. Rose was exhausted. She couldn't wait to have this whole crazy business behind them. She really hoped things would calm down, at least a bit after they dealt with Madam Kovarian. She tried to fight it off but couldn't help the large yawn that escaped and the Doctor chuckled.

"Seems like it's been a bit of a rollercoaster since you've been back, doesn't it?" He asked and she shrugged her shoulders and smirked.

"Just like old times," She said lightly then she patted her belly. "Well, not just like old times." The Doctor kissed the top of her head then they both jerked towards the door when it flew open.

"Ok, we may have a bit of a problem," Jack said as he strode over to them. "I just got an S.O.S from my team a few minutes ago and now I can't get ahold of any of them." He said and Rose and the Doctor shared a look then stood up.

"Old times?" The Doctor said and Rose nodded her head.

"Yep," Rose told him with a mildly inappropriate smile on her face, considering the circumstance.

"Could you two maybe flirt later, we do have a bit of an issue here," Jack said then smirked at Rose as they walked toward the console room.

"Oh, Captain Jack, I thought there was always time for a good flirt?" Rose said bumping his shoulder as she winked at him. But she could see under the smile he gave back that he was a bit worried about his team.

"Ok, first off, did you enhance power to the quantum satellite, to boast the signal?" The Doctor asked and Jack looked at him like he was stupid.

"Of course I did," He said as they all gathered around the console. "The signal isn't being blocked or rerouted, at least not that I can find," He said typing on the keypad in front of the monitor. The Doctor watched over Jacks shoulder and Amy was a bit baffled. This was very unlike the hands on; I don't trust anyone to do it but me; Doctor that she knew. The Doctors eyes went wide a fraction of a second before Jacks and they both said "There!" at the same time as they pointed to the screen.

"The S.O.S is coming from inside the Torchwood base," Jack announced and the Doctor nodded his head. Jack turned and looked at him and followed his eyes to Rose, who was watching from behind them both.

"Oh no," Rose said shaking her head. "You're going to go check up on them," Rose said and the Doctor took a deep breath and Rose cut him off before he could speak. "I'll stay in the TARDIS, where we'll be perfectly safe." She assured him and the Doctor nodded his head. He turned to Jack and they both began to move around the console. It was a weird bit of a dance, the way they seemed to move around each other as they piloted the TARDIS to Cardiff. She could remember many other times she'd watched this dance before, only Jack had been oh so much younger and the Doctor had been all ears and leather. It was nice to see that they both worked so well together still, after so many years apart.

"Ok, once we get there Rose you'll stay here with Amy and Martha-

"Wait, why do we all have to stay here?" Martha asked speaking up only a second before Amy could.

"Babe, we can't leave Rose with all the kids and go traipsing out to check on Jack's people," Mickey said and Martha's righteous anger died away in an instant.

"Right," she agreed nodding her head.

"I'll stay," Amy said walking over to Rose with a smile. "Martha knows the layout of Torchwood, she and Mickey would be much more of an asset then Rory or I."

"She's right," Rory said nodding his head. "You four go make sure there's no trouble, we'll wait here." Rose smiled at her two new friends then met the Doctor's eyes.

"So, I'm safe and sound, so you guys go check on everyone at Torchwood." Rose said sitting down on the jump seat. They all rocked slightly as the TARDIS landed and Rose held on to the edge of the seat.

"Please be careful," Rose said when the Doctor stepped over to her. "And Jack, watch his back, yeah?"

"Always happy to help," Jack said smirking with a small wiggle of his eye brows.

"Let's go," Martha said opening the door. The Doctor kissed Rose on the forehead and followed everyone out, closing the door behind him.

"We're gonna go check on Melody and Abby, you wanna come?" Amy asked taking Rory's hand. Rose looked up at them and smiled.

"Na, I'm just gonna sit here and read," She said pulling a book out of her pocket. Rory looked from the door to Rose and back again and nodded his head.

"Ok," Amy said, she and Rory turned and started out of the console room. "They'll be fine right?" Amy asked quietly when they were out of earshot.

"Corse they will," Rory said bumping her shoulder.

~*~Waiting~*~

Rose yawned and rolled her neck and blinked her eyes. She must have fallen asleep on the jump seat. She looked around the room, but it was still empty. It hadn't been more than 45 minutes since everyone left. Rose tilted her head and thought about that, she was sure no more than 45 minutes had gone by, yet she hadn't checked her watch in hours. She smiled and patted her belly, wondering if it was just a good guess or her new genes beginning to kick in. She stretched her legs out in front of her and then stood. She rolled her shoulders and thought about going to find Amy and Rory, sitting her watching the door was not going to speed things up at all. She picked up her fallen book then started up the stairs.

The door to the TARDIS flew open when she reached the top of the stairs. The Doctor was standing there, a huge manic grin on his face, breathing slightly heavy.

"Rose!" He yelled running into the console room. She ran down to meet him half way and he grabbed her hand.

"Is everything ok?" She asked, worried at the slightly manic look on his face.

"Everything's fine," He said and he started to pull her towards the door. "Everyone's fine, I have something to show you." He told her and she looked at him a little weird.

"Outside?" Rose asked walking with him slowly. "You keep telling me to stay in the TARDIS." Rose reminded him and he shook his head and waved his hand dismissively.

"Nothing to worry about now," he told her as he pulled the door open. "Oh have I got something to show you Rose Tyler," He said and something in Rose froze. Something was wrong, this was not her Doctor, there was something in the way he just said her name that chilled her to the bone.

"I think we should wait for everyone else to get here," She finally said pulling back a little, but his grip only tightened.

"No, no I have something to show you, you're fine, it's fine; after all, I'm the Doctor." He told her; now she could see when he looked at her; there was something not right about his eyes.

"I don't think you are," Rose snarled at him, shaking her head as she turned to the open door. "Amy!" She cried as he pulled her away from the TARDIS. Rose watched as Amy came running down the stairs towards the door then the grip on her hand tightened to an almost unbearable grip and everything went dark.

~*~Amy~*~

"Amy!" Amy sped up down the corridor towards the console room at Rose's scream. She watched confused as the Doctor pulled Rose away from the TARDIS. A few feet from the door he lifted his free hand, wiggled his figures at her and then they both disappeared.

"What the hell!?" Amy shouted turning as Rory came running towards her.

"What happened?" He asked looking out the door.

"I'm not really sure; the Doctor just pulled Rose out of the TARDIS and disappeared with her." She told him, she sounded as if she was unsure of what she was telling him.

"No, I didn't;" The Doctor said stepping onto the TARDIS and looking from Amy to Rory and back. His voice was hard as stone when he spoke again. "Where is Rose?"

"Gone," Amy said shaking her head. "You...you were there, you were pulling her away. I don't understand." Amy finished shaking her head at the look on the Doctor's face.

"What's going on?" Jack asked as he stepped onto the ship.

"Madam Kovarian used a doppelganger of you, somehow, didn't she?" Rory asked and the Doctor looked up at him and he nodded just once. It was the only think that made sense. His face was a mask of calm and Jack put his hand on his shoulder. The Doctor whipped around to look at him.

"It's ok," Jack said as Mickey stepped over the threshold and closed the door. "We still have that trace; she shouldn't be too hard to follow."

The Doctor shrugged Jack's hand off his shoulder and stalked to the console. He put his hands on the edge and hung his head for a moment.

"How could I have been so stupid?!" He demanded slamming his fists down on the console then whirled around to face them.

"I take it the team at Torchwood is ok?" Rory murmured and the Doctor looked at him.

"Of course they are; they never sent any S.O.S!" He shouted, not really at Rory, just the group in general. "It did take us almost 40 minutes just to get into the base though, because something had them in lock down. Then suddenly their doors opened and they had no idea what we were doing there." The Doctor explained; his voice boarding on yelling again.

"Doctor you need to calm down," Martha said stepping forward and flinching at the look on his face. His face was full of barely contained rage.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" The Doctor shouted as he pointed a finger at Martha. "You have no idea what I am going through right now!" He pushed his hair back and turned back to the console and pulled the monitor in front of him.

"I do," Rory said stepping forward and the Doctor stopped. He turned slowly to look at Rory. "I know exactly what you're going through right now. I stood there and watched as you disintegrated my wife right in front of my eyes then told me that it hadn't really been her for months. That not only had she been kidnaped but that I was also missing the birth of my daughter." Rory had been walking slowly towards the Doctor as he spoke and now he laid his hands on his shoulders. "Then I listened as you told me exactly how we were going to get her back. That she was going to be fine and that the _only_ way to get her out safely was by keeping calm." The Doctor looked up and met Rory's eyes and took a deep breath.

"Thank you," The Doctor said quietly. He whirled back to the monitor and began to type furiously. "Ok, the trace is working; it should only take a few moments to..." He stopped talking and looked up at the rotor for a long moment then turned back around with a large smile on his face.

"Oh you clever, clever girl," He said and then he seemed to stare off into space for what seemed like forever, his smile growing. Then he nodded his head and looked back at the group. "Rose is fine, and I know where they have her." He told them, his face still held all the worry he was feeling, but he looked much more hopeful now.

"What just happened?" Mickey asked as they all headed up to ramp towards the console. "How do you know she's fine?"

"Rose, brilliant, fantastic Rose," The Doctor said looking at Mickey. "She told me," He said tapping his head. "She's figured out how to communicate with me, mentally."

"Wow," Martha said and the Doctor nodded his head. None of them knew of what was going on in Roses body yet; what being pregnant with a Time Lord baby was doing, they'd both decided not to say anything till they knew more about what was going on. So they were all very shocked that Rose was able to do something like that across such a great distance, with no training at all.

"So, where are we going?" Amy asked and the Doctor looked over at her, his good mood fading a bit.

"Back to Demons Run."


	10. Chapter 10- Found

Chapter 10~*~ Found

Rose sat with her back to the wall, her hands over her belly and her legs crossed in front of her. Her eyes were closed and she was taking long deep breaths. She was locked in a small room; there was nothing but a bed in the corner and no windows. The whole room was white and felt almost like a room in a mental health facility might. Rose could feel that her daughter was slightly stressed and she was trying to keep her calm. She knew that everyone would, at this moment, be looking for a way to find her. She was also working on trying to find a way to help. She knew that Madame Kovarian and the Not Doctor were sitting outside the door talking, but she couldn't hear them. She took another deep breath and reached out with her mind towards the chaotic and frenzied mind that could only belong to the Doctor. But she couldn't get through to him and she was sure it had to do with the fact that he was in full out panic mode. She opened her eyes and sighed as the baby kicked and she smiled.

"We're fine," Rose whispered to her belly. "Your daddy will be here soon and then we'll take care of all this." She rubbed her belly in slow circles and the baby finally calmed. "We're going to have to think up a name for you sometime soon." Rose said, trying to calm her nerves as well. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath again, reaching out with her mind.

' _Doctor,'_ she called trying to bypass the anger she could feel coming from him. It had surprised her how easy it was to find his mind when she'd tried the first time a few minutes ago. He'd never gotten around to building up that temporary bond, so she'd thought it would be impossible, by had tried anyway. _'Doctor,'_ she tried again and felt his mind had calmed a bit. ' _Doctor, can you hear me?'_

' _Rose?!'_ his mind called back and she sighed in relief. _'Is that really you?'_

' _Yes, it's me, we're ok,'_ she laughed a little and stood up slowly, careful to keep her mind connected to his.

' _How are you doing this?'_ he asked and Rose laughed.

' _I'm not really sure, let's worry about that later, yeah? I know where we are.'_ Rose took a deep breath and sat down on the bed.

' _Ok, where are you?'_ He asked and Rose could feel his worry.

' _Something called Demons Run.'_ Rose said and could feel him lose his calm for a moment.

' _Ok,'_ He said, and his 'voice' sounded calmer again. _'Rose?'_

' _Yes?'_ She asked propping her feet up onto the bed.

' _I'm coming to get you,'_ He told her and she laughed out loud as she felt his mind recede to the back on her mind.

~*~*~Doctor~*~*~

"Ok, so you've been to this Demons Run before?" Martha asked and the Doctor nodded his head looking at Amy and Rory.

"It's where they took Amy when they tried to take Melody," The Doctor explained and Martha looked to Amy with sympathy. She was sure Amy didn't relish the idea of going back there.

"Speaking of Melody," Rory said looking at Mickey. "What are we going to do with the kids while we go after Rose?"

"That is a very good question." The Doctor said rubbing the back of his neck. Then he smiled and looked between the two couples and reached up and tweaked his bowtie. "I think I may have an idea about that."

~*~*~Baby-sitter~*~*~

"This looks like a pretty normal house," Martha said when they opened the door to the TARDIS.

"I promise you it's not," The Doctor said leading them all over to the house. It was mid-morning and Martha and Amy were loaded down with diaper bags and the babies and Mickey and Rory were both carrying travel cots and car seats.

"You're sure this is a good idea?" Mickey said, though he didn't know exactly what the idea was.

"I'm very sure," He said then took a deep breath and knocked on the front door of the lovely two story house they'd arrived at.

"I thought I heard the TARDIS," A older women said as she pulled the door open and smiled at the group. "Mickey!"

"Sarah Jane!" Mickey said dropping his stuff and pushing passed the Doctor to give her a hug. "Ok, this was a good idea," He agreed looking back at the Doctor.

"Well I've been known to have them," The Doctor said as Sarah gestured them all into the house. Mickey went back to grab his stuff.

"What's going on?" Sarah asked as she took in the young babies and the pile of baby stuff.

"We're in a very big bind," He told her and she took a deep breath. "Sarah, I promise when we get this all sorted I will give you the very long version of this story, but we are in quite a hurry." He said as Jack and Mickey began to set up the travel cots. "Rose has been kidnapped and we need to go save her. We can't take the babies with us, and we could really use some help."

"Rose?!" Sarah said looking shocked. He'd told her he left Rose in the other universe with the Human Doctor.

"Yes, she's pregnant and a very vile women wants to keep her till she gives birth then steal the baby," He told her, his voice taking on a slightly panicked tone again.

"Pregnant...Is it, yours?" She finally asked and he shifted from foot to foot.

"Sort of," He said then rushed on before she could ask what 'sort of' meant. "And I promise I'll explain everything, but we really need your help."

"You want me to do what exactly, baby-sit?" Sarah asked looking between Amy and Martha and the babies.

"You're the only person I'd trust them with," The Doctor said looking pleadingly at her.

"I assume you have everything here that I'll need?" She asked and the Doctor sighed nodding his head. "And who are these little sweeties?" She asked walking over to Amy and Martha.

"This is Melody," Amy said with a small smile. "She's really laid back, and she goes to daycare, so she should be pretty easy with us leaving."

"And this is Abby," Martha said taking a deep breath. "She's still breast feeding, but there are at least two days' worth of milk in the bag. Though the Doctor assures me we'll be back much sooner then that." She reached out and took Abby and Amy walked over and put Melody in the cot. Amy kissed the top of Melody's head and smiled at Sarah.

"Thank you," Amy said and Martha nodded.

"Yes, thank you," She agreed smoothing back Abby's hair.

"We'll be back very soon, I promise," The Doctor told Sarah and she smiled at him nodding her head.

"And then I get the full story?" Sarah asked and the Doctor nodded his head. Mickey came over and kissed Abby good-bye while Rory said good-bye to Melody.

"As soon as we get back," He told her solemnly he started to walk away then turned on one foot and faced her again. "We won't be gone long."

~*~Rescue~*~

"This Madame Kovarian is obviously going to be expecting us at some point, right?" Jack said as they sat around the large kitchen table, trying to come up with a workable plan to get to Rose and the baby.

"Of course she is," The Doctor said nodding his head, wringing his hands together as he thought. "We need to figure out how to get in unnoticed."

"I don't think we'll be able to do it the same as we did last time," Rory said, looking up from his small medical bag.

"How did Rose know it was Demons Run?" Mickey asked as he and Martha charged and cleaned the few weapons they had. Normally the Doctor detested guns, but he was willing to look past that for now.

"She heard my double say it when she was regaining consciousness." The Doctor explained. Thank the stars Rose had figured out how to communicate with him, or this would have taken them ages.

"Speaking of your double," Amy said after she stepped into the room. "I've seen a lot of 'evil doubles' movies and I think we should avoid any 'who's the real Doctor' moments." She tossed something at the Doctor and he caught it with a smile. "Jack says only the person who puts that on can take it off, that way the double won't be able to take it off to try and trick us." He was holding what looked like a slim silver bracelet; it had intertwining knots carved into it.

"It's a wedding band from Tacton 4," The Doctor said looking over at Jack.

"Yeah, boy was that a mistake," Jack said with a shake of his head and a smirk. "Want me to put it on?" He asked with a wink. The Doctor rolled his eyes and held it back out to Amy. She smiled and opened the bracelet how Jack had showed her then slipped it onto his wrist.

"Keep your sleeves rolled up so we can see it," Martha said not looking up from her work.

"Right," he said nodding his head before his eyes drifted up and out of focus for a moment. "Rose says she's been moved to what looks like an observation room."

"Ask her if it's the room with the wall of windows," Amy said and the Doctor went silent for a moment.

"Yeah, must be the same room they were keeping you and Melody in," He said and Amy nodded her head.

"Why can't we just pop in and grab her?" Mickey asked and everyone looked at him and he sighed.

"Because they have shields up that kept the TARDIS out." The Doctor said and Mickey nodded his head. That made sense, but was very bad news for them.

"So, we can't take the TARDIS in, we need to figure out what we're gonna use to get there then." Jack said looking around the room. "Would it keep me out if I used this?" He asked pulling his sleeve back to show off his vortex manipulator.

"No," The Doctor said smiling a little now.

"What is it?" Amy asked looking at Jack's wrist.

"It's a vortex manipulator. It enables you to travel through time and space," The Doctor said explained and everyone looked at him at once.

"Like the TARDIS?" Rory asked and the Doctor shook his head.

"No, no, no, it is nowhere near the technology of the TARDIS." The Doctor said, sounding defensive.

"Yeah well, it can get us there and the TARDIS can't, so right now I think it's a bit impressive," Mickey said and the Doctor nodded his head in agreement.

"Can only the wearer travel with it?" Rory asked looking at the small leather band around Jacks wrist.

"No, I can take two extra people along with me." He said and Rory nodded.

"How many people do you think are working with Madame Kovarian?" Amy asked and the Doctor looked off into space for a moment.

"Rose says she hasn't seen anyone but the double and Madame Kovarian," The Doctor said after a few moments. "But that doesn't mean they are alone," He finished and Amy nodded her head. The Doctor stood up and leaned down to take his sonic screwdriver out of his tweed jacket that was hanging off the back of his chair and walked over to Jack. He grabbed Jacks wrist and aimed the sonic at his vortex manipulator. A few seconds later he pulled it back and smiled. "All fixed," He told Jack, then Jack put his hand on the Doctor's shoulder.

"We're gonna get her back, safe and sound," Jack told him and the Doctor nodded his head.

"I don't think she'd have many people helping her, I know for sure the Headless monks are no longer helping her," He said rubbing his cheek then the back of his neck. "But I don't know who else she may have recruited. I'm still wondering how she has a double of me." He said sounding frustrated.

"Well, let's assume she has at least as many people working for her as we have here. What should we do?" Jack said sitting down at the table, shortly followed by the Doctor.

~*~Rose~*~

Rose walked aimlessly around the room, she was so bored. She knew she should be more scared, but being able to talk to the Doctor had helped a lot. He'd been keeping her in the loop about all their planning so far. He'd told her about Amy's bracelet idea, which Rose had to agree was a great idea. The double couldn't fool her again, she was sure, but in an emergency it was nice to know she wouldn't have to take time to figure out who was who.

Rose knew what the plan was, and she was mostly just waiting now. She'd told the Doctor about all the traps Madame Kovarian had set, she told him to be careful though because she suspected that Madame Kovarian had figured out that they were communicating somehow and was trying to trick them. She looked up when the door opened and Madame Kovarian and the double came walking in, she had a nasty smirk on her face.

"Seems like your rescue is underway," Madame Kovarian said stopping at the balcony at the top of the stairs.

"I don't know what you think you've accomplished here," Rose said shaking her head. "You will never win; you're never going to get your hands on my daughter."

"Oh my dear," Madame Kovarian said shaking her head in mock sympathy. "I don't want your daughter." Rose looked at her confused and then her eyes flicked over to the double when he pulled out a small gun. She took a step back and looked between the two of them before the gun rang out with a bang and everything went black.

~*~Escape~*~

The Doctor stopped short on his walk down the hall and Mickey ran right into his back. They'd decided to split up into small groups. They were all on Demons Run now, working their way towards the room they thought they had Rose in.

"What's wrong?" Mickey asked in a low voice.

"Rose is gone," He whispered touching his head his face pale.

"What do you mean gone?" Mickey said his voice rising slightly.

"I mean she's either unconsciousness or..." He trailed off and Mickey shook his head.

"They must have knocked her out," Mickey said and the Doctor nodded his head, it had to be that, it couldn't be anything else. Madame Kovarian wanted the baby; she wouldn't hurt Rose, right?

"Doctor, I know you're here, I hope you didn't think you were being sneaky," A voice echoed around the hall they were walking down. "Better come save her," Madame Kovarian's voice called out. The Doctor looked at Mickey and took off at a run, Mickey right behind him. They almost ran into Amy and Rory coming from a hallway to their right. The Doctor skidded to a halt to keep from plowing over Amy then just darted around her and continued to run. At the end of the hall they came to the large room where the Headless monks had their meeting last time they were there.

The Doctor could see Madame Kovarian and the double standing in the middle of the room, just in front of the large stage. Rose seemed to be lying at the feet of his double. He stalked towards them, all his friends at his back, Jack and Martha had come running over from another hallway. He stuffed his hands in his pocket and fingered his sonic screwdriver, making sure he knew right where it was.

As the Doctor approached the two of them he could see that Rose was completely limp on the ground, but she was breathing. He also took note of the gun his double was holding, pointed at Rose. He was suddenly thankful for the weapons Martha, Mickey and Jack all had.

"It's about time dear Doctor, your little Rose is starting to wilt." Madame Kovarian said, her tone mocking as she gestured to the floor behind her.

"What did you do to her?" the Doctor demanded, not going to her only because of the gun.

"Oh just something to keep her from doing something foolish while we waited; it'll wear off momentarily." She told him, looking behind him at the rest of the group. As if on cue Rose began to stir, her legs stretching out a little. "Ah, see there we are now."

Rose sat up slowly and rubbed her arm where the tranquilizer had hit her. She looked up and met the Doctors eyes and gave him a small smile. The double reached down and pulled her to her feet, being anything but gentle. Rose winced when he grabbed her arm and the Doctor practically growled. It was a very weird, intense feeling to watch himself hurt Rose like that.

"Now, now," Madame Kovarian said with a smile. "Play nice." The Doctor stared at his double. What was he? Some kind of clone? An alien shape-shifter of some kind? Oh, maybe a Zygon? But there was something familiar about him and he still hadn't placed it yet.

"Rose, are you Ok?" the Doctor asked looking her in the eyes. She took a deep breath and nodded her head. She could feel the tip of the gun pressed into the small of her back. She hardly dare move for fear he might accidently shot her.

"I'm fine, a bit sore," she told him and he nodded his head. He was looking right at Rose, but he was pretty sure he'd sensed movement across the room. Madame Kovarian must have backup of some kind. The Doctor looked at her then back to his double, and then it clicked. He tried not to smile widely when he figured it out. He needed to try something.

"We're gonna be ok," the Doctor told her with a smile as he tried to figure out just how many people were in the shadows, waiting for some signal from the boss.

"We're gonna be ok" the Double mimicked and the Doctors eyes shot to him. Ok, that was interesting.

"I'm not really that childish, am I?" the Doctor asked looking to Rose with a smirk. He wondered if Jack had realized they weren't alone yet. He hoped so, but knowing Jack he was pretty confident he had.

"I'm not really that childish, am I?" the double mimicked again and Rose felt the tip of the gun draw away just a bit. It was a little weird how he'd started to mimic him. Though it did bring to mind a creepy story James had told her about something that had happened when he was traveling with Donna. What was the Doctor doing?

"That's enough," Madame Kovarian told them, giving the Doctor a searching look.

"He's a flesh doppelganger, isn't he?" The Doctor finally said looking at Madame Kovarian. He wondered how long he could keep her talking. He'd need as much time as he could buy. "How?"

"Oh Doctor, I've been keeping a close eye on you for a while. When you went to that monastery I followed you. It was easy enough to grab your double after you left; I reanimated him after he dissolved. It was quite the process, and he wasn't quite right, but that worked to my advantage." She told him in a superior tone shaking her head. "After that it was an easy matter of re-educating him." she said with a smirk.

"Ah," the Doctor said nodding his head slowly. "That makes sense, except I think you forgot one simple thing." The Doctor said meeting the doubles eyes. The nod from his double was very small but the Doctor saw it.

"And what might that be?" Madame Kovarian sneered as she crossed her arms.

"My species is telepathic, and he's _me_ ," the Doctor said as the double dropped the gun and the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver from his pocket. "I'm sorry," he said looking at the double.

"I know," the double said a second before the screwdriver whirled to life and the double disintegrated into a pool at Rose's feet.

"Well, that was an interesting trick," Madame Kovarian said, sounding far calmer then he'd expected. "But you haven't won yet."

"Get down!" The Doctor yelled a second before shots began to ring out around them. They all hit the floor and Jack began to fire back, pulling Amy down next to him and covering her as Martha and Mickey began to fire as well, keeping Rory covered. The firing continued as the Doctor tried to make his way towards Rose and Madame Kovarian. He knew his team was fully capable of keeping themselves safe. He looked over his shoulder to see as they all made their way back for cover, towards the other side of the stage. He pointed his sonic screwdriver up towards the ceiling and sparks and glass flew as a few lightbulbs burst, sending the room into half-darkness. The firing slowed as their enemy tried to work out where they were.

"That poor sad man would do anything for you, wouldn't he?" Madame Kovarian whispered to Rose as she grabbed her arm and jabbed the gun she'd been concealing into her side. "He brought all his friends here to save you, risking all their lives, just for you."

"They help because they are good people," Rose said through gritted teeth as she tried to see what was going on with her friends in the half darkness. She could still hear shots ringing out once in a while, but couldn't really see any of her friends.

"And yet they'll still die," Madame Kovarian said shaking her head in mock sadness. "You all will," She said bending down to whisper in her ear. "When your beloved Doctor gets here he'll only be in time to see me kill you. Then he'll drive himself crazy. I won't need anyone to kill him; he'll do the job himself." She told her, her grip on Rose's arm tighter.

Rose took a deep breath and felt something in her chest warm her whole body all over. Her breathing calmed and the tears in her eyes dried all at once. She felt Madame Kovarian's grip tighten even as she took a step back from her. She felt her daughter calm and knew exactly what to do next.

"You should have disappeared," Rose said and her voice echoed with a tinkling melody that she felt like she recognized. "You shouldn't have come back here," She said and Madame Kovarian's hand snapped back from Rose's arm as her eyes began to glow a bright gold. "You have no idea who you're dealing with here." She said looking into Madame Kovarian's eyes.

"Bad Wolf," The Doctor's voice came out in a strangled plea and Rose turned her eyes to him. All at once the firing stopped all around them. The silence was only broken when someone screamed. The Doctor looked to Madame Kovarian as her hands rose to her head and her knees buckled, sending her to the floor.

"You don't need to kill her Rose," He said stepping towards her and the screaming stopped. "Send her to the Judoon; they will take care of her."

"Like last time?" Rose's voice echoed still but it was more Rose now then Bad Wolf.

"I don't want her death on your conscience," The Doctor pleaded with her and Rose looked to Madame Kovarian.

"Fine," Rose looked over at the Doctor. "Somewhere else then," She said and looked at Madame Kovarian again. In a puff of golden light Madame Kovarian was gone. The Doctor took a deep breath then there were small puffs of golden light all around them as Madame Kovarian's people were popped away.

"Rose, you're done, come back now," The Doctor said holding out his hand to her. Her eyes blazed golden for a moment and she smiled brightly at him.

"Not quite," Rose said with a small smile as she looked behind the Doctor to his friends as they walked slowly towards them, their faces a mix of fear and shock. "Someone is missing." She said and the Doctor whipped around afraid of who might be hurt, but they were all there walking towards them. Mickey seemed to be limping and had what looked like a belt clinched on his leg.

"Everyone is ok," he said looking back to Rose, his voice held a note of confusion.

"No, not everyone, but they will be." She smirked at the Doctor now and took a deep breath. "She'll remember." She said and her eyes pulsed almost blindingly bright and the Doctor had to shield his eyes. When he looked back Rose was down on her knees, her eyes back to normal, her head cradled in her hands. He rushed to her and pulled her into his arms smoothing back her sweat matted hair.

"Rose," He said and she looked up at him, her eyes fluttering like she was having a hard time keeping them open. "Are you ok?"

"We're fine," She said putting her hand on her belly. "I sent her to Midnight," She said taking a deep breath. The Doctor shuttered at the thought, even if she did deserve that.

"I didn't ask," he said and her smile grew.

"You didn't have to," She said reaching up and touching his head. He turned his head and kissed her palm and when he looked again her eyes were closed.

"Is she..." Mickey trailed off as he knelt down next to them.

"She's fine," The Doctor said looking up to him. "The was a huge energy draw, she's just tired." The Doctor gathered her up into his arms, cradling her to his chest.

"What did she mean, she sent her to Midnight?" Amy asked as he stood and looked around at them. Jack was unhurt with his arm over Martha and Amy and Rory were standing as close together as they could.

"It's somewhere you wouldn't ever want to go," The Doctor said with conviction. He walked over to Jack and looked up at him. "Will you take us home?" he asked and Jack let go of Martha and nodded his head. Martha stepped over to Mickey and took his hand.

"I'll be straight back for you guy," Jack said and everyone nodded. The Doctor put his hand on Jacks shoulder and they both popped away.

~*~Remembering~*~

"How's she doing?" Martha said as she came into their room. The Doctor was sitting in the bed with Rose, a book lay open on his lap, but it didn't look like he was reading it. They'd already stopped to get the kids and were currently parked in Sarah Jane's back yard. They had made it back two hours after they left. Sarah had understood that explanations would have to wait a bit and was, as far as he knew, sitting in the galley with everyone else.

"She's fine, just sleeping it off now," He said and Martha nodded her head. "She'll probably be out for a day or so."

"You know what happened back there?" Martha said, it didn't sound like a question and the Doctor took a deep breath.

"Yes, and I'll explain it to all of you in just a bit." He said and Martha smiled at him.

"Doctor!" Amy said as she rushed into the room. "There's someone on the phone for you." She said in a rush. "She seems pretty insistent that she speak to you, now." Amy said looking towards Rose's sleeping form.

"We'll stay here with her Doctor," Martha said and he nodded his head and climbed off the bed. He walked down the hall towards the console room wondering who it could be. Jack was standing at the console holding the receiver in one hand, a look of shock on his face. He silently held out the phone to the Doctor and stepped back. The Doctor put the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" He said wondering about the odd look Jack was giving him now.

"Oi Space man! You get your skinny ass over here and tell me what the hell is going on!" Said a voice he hadn't ever expected to hear again.

"Donna?!"

~*~Midnight~*~

Madame Kovarian came to very slowly; her head ached like someone had driven a nail through it. She sat up and felt sand under her fingers. It was night on whatever planet she'd been sent to, but the light from the moons lit the ground around her. She rubbed her head and stood up, fighting off the dizzy feeling. If she thought sending her away was going to stop her then she wasn't nearly as smart as she thought she was. Her head whipped to the right when she saw movement, it was barely more than a shadow. It looked to be heading her way and a sudden chill ran through her. She watched as the shadow darted closer to her, and she took a step back.

"Stay where you are!" She called pulling up her gun. There was a bright flash and something hit her. Her gun dropped to the ground as everything went black.

When the Judoon beamed her aboard their ship she was sitting on the floor, her eyes wide and her face slack.

"You have been accused of kidnaping, conspiracy and escaping from prison," The Judoon at the front of the group said raising his weapon.

"You have been accused of kidnaping, conspiracy and escaping from prison," She repeated, her voice empty of any emotion. The Judoon seemed to ignore her.

"Verdict, guilty. Sentence, execution." The Judoon said and all of the Judoon in the front line raised their weapons.

"Verdict, guilty. Sente-" Her voice was cute off with a hail of gun fire.

A/N- I hope you all loved this story as much as I loved writing it! This is the end of Finding her Forever. It will be continued shortly in at least one One-Shot, perhaps more. I also wanted to thank my very good friend Jaime! I could not have written this story without you! Thank you for all the lovely reviews. I love hearing from the readers! :-)


	11. Chapter 11- The End

A/N- So this is a little longer then I planned, but I hope you guys don't mind. :-) Enjoy!

Rose sat back in her chair and took a deep breath. The Doctor slipped into the chair next to her and lifted her legs up into his lap. He slipped her flats off and began to rub her feet. His hair was flopping in his eyes as he leaned over her feet and his bowtie was untied and hanging loosely around his neck. She giggled as he hit a ticklish spot and he looked up at her, his eyes full of mischief. He tickled her feet again and she laughed out loud now, trying to jerk her feet back.

"Knock it off," she told him laughing again. He stopped and wiggled his eye brows at her.

"Are you havin' fun?" He asked, though his voice slurred just a bit.

"How much have you had to drink?" She asked laughing again as he looked shocked.

"Rose Tyler, I'll have you know that Time Lords are perfently... perfently... perfectly! Ha, yes, perfectly capable of holding our liquor." He said and Rose couldn't help but shake her head at him. She was perfectly aware that he could metabolize alcohol without it having any effect on him, but she also knew he could not do it if he chose. It had been a very long time since she'd seen him even a little drunk.

"Yeah, I know," she said nodding her head with a smile. "Are you having fun?" She asked turning his question back to him.

"Yes," he said nodding his head.

"Where's Donna?" Rose asked looking around the huge park. They were actually inside the TARDIS, but they were in the garden room. Everyone was there, Jack and all of his Torchwood team, Amy and Rory, Martha and Mickey, Sarah Jane and Donna. The Doctor looked around the room and seemed to sober a little as he frowned.

"She's avoiding me," he said sounding so dejected.

"It's only been a few weeks Doctor, she's got a lot to get used to," Rose said pulling her feet off his lap and patting his knee. "I mean, she's been through a lot the last few years."

"I know," He said nodding his head, a small pout on his face (not that Time Lords pouted.) Donna had been through a lot since he'd had to block her memories. She'd seemed to find some happiness and gotten married. But as she'd told Rose when the Doctor was not around, the marriage had ended because Donna couldn't help feel like there was something out there she was missing.

"Doctor!" Jack said coming up to them with two drinks in his hands. He handed one to the Doctor and smiled. "Drink up! We're celebrating!" The Doctor's smile popped back onto his face and he took the drink from Jack.

"Yes we are!" He said reaching up to tweak his bowtie only to find that it was already untied. Rose stood up and patted the Doctor on the shoulder.

"I'm gonna go walk around a bit." She told him and he nodded his head as Jack dragged him off towards his Torchwood team.

"I'm really glad you guys are so happy," A voice said from behind her and Rose turned to smile at Donna. She had a glass of wine in her hands and a smile on her face. It had been a few weeks since Donna had called after her memories came back. It had been a very interesting conversation when they made it back to Donna's house after that phone call. Rose had insisted on going with him, even though she'd only just woken up.

 _Rose stood just inside the TARDIS doors; the Doctor was at her side, fidgeting with his tie. She knew he was nervous about seeing Donna, about telling her how long it had been and how sorry he was for what he had to do to save her life. Rose was excited to see her again. She hadn't gotten to spend much time with Donna and she was looking forward to getting to know the woman James had said was his best friend._

" _Will you get your skinny butt out here spaceman!" Donna said before she pounded on the door making the Doctor jump. Rose giggled and reached for the door. She pulled it open and stepped outside, leaving the door open, waiting for the Doctor._

" _Rose," She asked then she smiled then she looked confused. "What are you doing here?"_

" _It's a really long story," Rose said with a bright smile then she stepped up to her and hugged her. "I'm so happy it worked, how's your head?"_

" _It's just me in here," Donna said after a second as Rose pulled away nodding happily. "Where's the Doctor?" Donna asked looking at the open door._

" _He's just a little nervous." Rose said loudly and she head him shift inside the door. "He's a little...different."_

" _He's regenerated?" Donna asked and Rose was a bit surprised. Then she remembered telling Donna a bit about it when the Doctor was shot by that Dalek._

" _Yeah, he has," Rose said nodding her head as the door opened farther and he stepped out. Donna looked him up and down then looked at Rose and smirked._

" _Really, and I thought the suit with_ _converse_ _was bad," Donna said and Rose giggled as the Doctor's mouth fell open._

" _Oi! I'll have you know bowties are cool!" He said and Rose laughed as Donna giggled._

"He thinks you're avoiding him," Rose said nodding over her shoulder at where the Doctor was laughing with the Torchwood team.

"I don't know that I'd say avoiding him," Donna said taking a sip of her drink. "I'm just trying to get used to remembering everything."

"I know," Rose said nodding her head with a reassuring smile. "He just... misses you."

"And I was missing him and I didn't even know it was him I was missing," Donna said and Rose smiled at her. Donna sat down and Rose followed suit, sitting in the seat she'd just recently stood from. "And I'm so thankful that you did, whatever it was you did." Donna told Rose with a wide genuine smile. "So happy to be myself again."

"Do you think, I mean, I hope you know... if you want, you're welcome to come with us again," Rose told her and Donna nodded her head. They both looked out to where the Doctor was laughing with Torchwood.

"He looked so happy," Donna said looking back to Rose. "Did he ever tell you he told me all about you?"

"James did," Rose said nodding her head. "And the Doctor and I have talked about it a bit since I've been back."

"James," Donna said with a sigh. "I'm sorry you lost him."

"Thank you," Rose said nodding her head. She took a deep breath and took a sip of her lemonade. "He was amazing, and we were really happy for a while."

"I'm glad," Donna said with a sad smile.

~*~1~*~

"So you planning on doing it today?" Jack asked taking a drink of his whiskey. "Because I think today would be a good day for it." He said as he looked over the Doctor's shoulders and saw Rose and Donna share a smile.

"Don't you think it's too soon?" The Doctor asked as he sobered himself up quickly.

"Really?" Jack asked eyeing the Doctor. "I think if anything you've waited too long."

"What?!" The Doctor asked alarmed. "You think she's upset?"

"Wow, no, I just meant, after everything you two have been through, you shouldn't wait any longer." Jack reassured him and the Doctor calmed down as he looked over his shoulder. Rose was laughing with Amy and Donna now and he wondered what, or who, they were laughing at. He knew having so many old companions in one place was not a good idea. Trading stories about him and the stupid, ridiculous things he'd done around all of them.

"Doctor!" Rose called on a giggle and he groaned a little and Jack laughed. "Did you really pop out of a cake at Rory's stag night?" She asked laughing along with Donna and Amy.

"You what?" Jack asked with a huge smirk. "Tell me there were pasties involved, please?" Jack asked with and eyebrow wiggle.

"Oh man," he muttered in embarrassment. "I was wearing my full suit, thank you." He finally said looking up at Jack. He stood a moment later and took a deep breath then looked at Jack. "No time like the present?"

"Go get her Doctor," Jack said with an enthusiastic nod. He took a step towards the now growing group around Rose and miss-stepped and ended up almost falling on his face. Maybe he wasn't quite totally sober yet.

"You okay Doctor?" Rose asked as she suppressed a giggle. He straitened up quickly then straitened his jacket and bowtie, forgetting again that it was untied. He winked at Rose with a big smile and she laughed as he strode over to them, a bit of a swagger in his step now. Rose could see by the look in his face he'd sobered himself up and she wondered what he had planned now.

"I think what Amy may have forgotten is that I went there to get him because she'd tried to kiss me the night before her wedding," The Doctor said and Rose giggled as Amy went scarlet and Rory laughed. It was nice to look back on all that and be able to laugh, knowing she loved him as much as she did.

"Oh Amy, naughty girl," Rose said with a huge smile at Amy who was still as red as her hair. Rose looked back at the Doctor and she laughed at the Doctor, who was sticking his tongue out at Amy.

"Really Doctor, are you 12 or 1200?" Rose asked with a huge smirk and he blushed a bit.

"Rose, could I ah... could I talk to you?" He asked holding out his hand to her. She smiled at him a little confused but took his hand. He pulled her to her feet and pulled her just a little bit away from their group.

"Everything okay?" Rose asked a note of concern in her voice now.

"Perfect, everything is...perfect," he said then let out a soft sigh. "Five months ago you walked back into my life when I thought I'd never see you again." He said and Rose's eyes went wide when he reached into his jacket and pulled out a small black box. She heard a few people behind her gasp and smiled at him. He looked over her shoulder with a small smile and then winked at her. He raised his hand and laid his fingers on her temple.

" _Forever is a long time, but if you'll let me, I'd like to spend it with you."_ He whispered in her mind and tears prickled in her eyes as she smiled brightly. _"Will you marry me? Bond with me? And live with me for the rest of our days?"_

"Yes," Rose breathed out loud with a breathless laugh. "Yes I will!" She said and he pulled his hand away and opened the ring box. There was a beautiful silver ring sitting inside with a single TARDIS blue sapphire embedded in the ring. She held out her hand and he pulled the ring from the box and slipped it onto her finger. She gasped when the ring shrank down to fit her perfectly.

"It's a bit alien," he said and she laughed nodding her head.

"Quiet right, too," Rose said and he laughed and swept her up into his arms and the crowd behind her erupted into shouts and applause.

"Congratulations!" Jack said being the first one to make it over to them. When the Doctor set Rose down Jack swept her up into his arms and swung her around. The crowd gathered around them as hugs and handshakes were traded between all the friends.

"Oh, a wedding, this is so wizard," Donna said with a bright smile as she stepped up to the Doctor and pulled him into a huge hug. He laughed and hugged her back.

"And soon," Rose added after Mickey hugged her. "I don't want to wait any longer then we have to."

"Well then, we have a lot of planning to do," Martha said as Donna took Roses hand. The Doctor watched as Rose, Donna, Martha and Amy walked over to a table to sit down.

"So, married with a baby on the way?" He looked to his side and smiled at Sarah Jane.

"How domestic of me," he said with a chuckle.

"I'm so happy for you Doctor, truly," She said with a bright smile. She laid her hand on his arm and smiled at him. "Congratulations."

~*~Bonding~*~

"Okay," Rose said as she sat up slowly, reaching behind herself to push her body up. She was almost 11 months pregnant now and moving around quickly was a thing of the past. "I'm ready," she said smiling brightly at him. He was seated at her feet, in nothing but his boxers. His face was alight with love and tenderness and his eyes flicked to her belly every few seconds. It gave her so much joy to think of how fast he'd come to consider this little girl his, while still acknowledging that James was also her father. She crossed her legs, as much as she could, and he scooted towards her on the bed. He exuded excitement as he crossed his legs as well, so their knees were touching. He reached out and brushed her hair back from her shoulder and then ran his hand down her cheek, brushing his thumb over her bottom lip in a way that had become so familiar to her now.

"Are you sur-

"I swear, if you ask me if I'm sure one more time I may well change my mind," she told him, only half kidding and he nodded his head, a small apologetic smile on his face. "I love you," she told him and his smile brightened.

"I love you," he said trailing his hand up to her temple, his fingers splayed and his thumb resting on her cheek. She reached out and did the same, taking a deep breath. Her eyes fluttered closed at the same moment his did and she sighed, totally content in this moment. "Just let everything fall away Rose," he whispered as his mind reached out and sought hers. "What do you see?"

"I'm not sure," Rose finally said her voice barely more than a murmur. "I can see her," Rose said her free hand resting on her belly, "She's so very happy," Rose told him and he nodded his head, and then remembered she couldn't see him.

"Okay," he said pushing his mind towards her just a bit more.

"Oh," Rose gasped as she finally felt him there, "Oh, there you are," She said reaching towards his mind with hers, and then sighing again when their minds intertwined. It was so much _more_ than the shallow bond they'd shared a few months ago. It was all Rose could do to keep herself from leaping across the bed into his arms. It was so intense, so full of passion and longing and Rose had to take a deep breath to steady herself.

' _Hello love'_

"Hello," Rose said giggling. It took a second for her to realize he had not spoken out loud. She still wasn't used to speech inside her mind. But it felt so natural.

' _Hello,'_ she thought and was rewarded with a light chuckle. She could feel him breathing across from her, almost as though it was she that was breathing. Could feel the way her head felt under his fingertips. She let the sensations wash over her as she basked in the love that surrounded them.

"I'd like to show you something," he said out loud this time and Rose realized he was asking permission for something.

"Of course," She said, out loud as well. He lifted his free hand off her leg and touched her temple, so he surrounded her. She felt herself beginning to fall, and her mind jolted, like it was trying to wake her.

' _Easy,'_ he said in her head. ' _I've got you, don't fight it. I know how different this must feel, but you have to let go,'_ She nodded her head and relaxed, body and mind. Then she felt herself begin to fall again, the darkness in her mind giving way to a brightness that she couldn't comprehend.

' _Rose, open your eyes,'_ her eyes popped open, but they were no longer sitting on their bed, in the TARDIS, but were standing in a field filled with deep red grass. Her intake of breath was full of shock as she looked around them. The trees that surrounded the little field were covered in silver leaves that waved in a slight breeze.

"How?" She asked and noticed that she spoke out loud, sort of.

"We're inside my mind," he said and she nodded looking around them. She noticed that they were more fully clothed here in his mind than they were on their bed.

"Is this..." She trailed off as tears sprung to her eyes. "Is this Gallifrey?" She finally asked turning to look at him. His face, naked of his normal bravado, was an open book to her as he nodded. She reached out to him and took his hand and he pulled her close to him.

"It's beautiful," she whispered into his chest. He nodded his head, his throat filled with tears. He'd never dreamed he'd be able to share this with her. He had been so sure that his chance at this kind of happiness had been long over. He took a deep breath and pulled away after a moment with a smile on his face.

"This isn't all I wanted to give you," He said stepping back from her and letting go of her hand. She just watched as he smiled at her, winked, then turned and walked away through the trees. She stood there for a moment, waiting as nothing happened.

"Doctor?" She said after a few long moments. She turned around, wondering where he'd gone. "What exactly are you supposed to be showing me?"

"Never were very patient you," said a very familiar voice from behind her. She turned slowly almost afraid of what she was going to find there. She lifted her eyes till they met the shocking blue eyes of her first Doctor. He had his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against a tree, one leg over the other in a very familiar pose. He pushed off the tree and walked towards her, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Oh my," she breathed as she watched him stalk towards her. Finally when he was only a few feet away she found her feet and rushed towards him. When she flung herself into his arms it was a little awkward, her large belly slightly in the way. It didn't seem to faze him though as he pulled her off her feet into a sweeping hug.

"I don't understand, how is this even possible?' She asked when he finally set her back down and she took a step back to take him in. He was wearing his normal jeans and jumper with his leather jacket, though surprisingly enough he was totally bare foot.

"We're in my mind Rose," he said as he laced his fingers through hers. "We're all in here," he said tapping his head with a cocky grin. He pulled her back towards him, one arm circling her waist as the other hand rested softly on the swell of her belly. "'S fantastic," he said rubbing his hand up and down. He bent down and nuzzled her neck with his nose, breathing her in.

"I love you," he whispered into her neck and she wiped at the tears on her checks. She'd never expected to hear those words spoken in that rough northern burr, it made her heart flutter.

"I love you too," she said as a chill ran through her body when he kissed her neck. He pulled back after another moment and smiled at her, it was his 'everybody lives' smile.

"You look fantastic," he said as he reluctantly pulled his hand from her belly. "I always regretted never telling you, how very much you meant to me, back when I was me." He leaned down and rested his forehead on hers. "Rose Tyler, you saved me."

"We saved each other," she told him as she reached up and wiped the single tear off his cheek. His hand went back to her belly, almost as though he couldn't help but be touching her. Rose giggled when the baby kicked at his hand and he laughed. It was a laugh she had not heard in so very long.

"She's gonna be as feisty as her namesake I think," he said and Rose nodded her head. She put her hand over his hand on her belly and they just stood there for a moment, wrapped up in each other. Then Rose shifted slightly and she yawned.

"You wouldn't think I'd be tired, seein' as I'm just sittin' on our bed," She said with a small chuckle.

"Well, you are almost 11 months pregnant, so it's to be expected." He said leaning over and resting his forehead against hers again, his large hand still splayed over her belly. "You need to get some sleep, the wedding is tomorrow and Donna will kill us both if you don't get some rest."

"I'm huge as a house; I don't think it'll matter if I've got dark circles under my eyes." She told him looking down at her belly.

"You look beautiful," He told her, his voice full of conviction, so of course Rose couldn't help but tease him just a bit.

"Considering," Rose said smiling up at him with her tongue in teeth smile. He looked at her confused.

"Considering what?" He asked and she just laughed, shaking her head as it finally dawned on him and he shook his head. "Yeah, bit of a git, me, but I'm sure we've covered that a few times," He told her and she just laughed more nodding her head. "You know I was just covering then, right?"

"Yeah, I do," she said when she calmed down a bit. "James told me all kind of stories," she said with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

"Well, on that note I think it's time for you to get some sleep." He said and she nodded her head. "Just close your eyes and I'll help you ease out of my mind. Part of you will stay in my mind, and part of me will stay in your mind," he reminded her and she smiled happily at him.

"S' wonderful," She said and her eyes drifted shut. "I love you," She murmured as she was already half asleep.

"I love you too," the strong northern voice answered back and then she was fast asleep. The Doctor eased out of her mind slowly. When he opened his eyes he found Rose asleep in their bed, her hair splayed out across the pillows, one hand resting on her belly. He pulled the covers up over her body and laid down next to her, he wasn't really tired, but he wanted to be here with her. The bond was strongest if the newly bonded were together for the first few hours after it was done.

He rolled onto his side in the bed and reached over and gently pulled Rose into his arms so he was cradling her back to his front. He covered her hands with his and took a deep breath. There was no feeling as wonderful as holding Rose asleep in his arms. He let his eyes drift closed, intending to rest with her for just a moment.

~*~Out~*~

Rose rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath as she finally came fully awake. She shifted and something shifted beside her and she smiled. The Doctor was wrapped around her, fast asleep. She didn't often get a chance to see him asleep, since he slept so much less than her. So even when he did go to bed with her he was rarely there in the morning when she woke up. She rolled slowly around so she was facing him and reached out to push his hair out of his face.

It flopped back down and she smiled. He reached up in his sleep and pushed it out of his face again and Rose giggled. Her laughter seemed to stir the Doctor as his eyes opened slowly. He had a groggy smile on his face when he saw her.

"Good morning," she said leaning over to kiss his cheek, but he shifted so her lips pressed against his own. He reached out his hand and placed it on her face and quickly deepened the kiss. Rose enjoyed the kiss for another moment then pulled away and smiled at the pout on his face. It was definitely new, kissing as a bonded pair, she could feel his love as though it were a blanket wrapped around her.

"We need to get up," she told him and he nodded his head but leaned back over and recaptured her lips. The Doctor groaned when there was a loud bang on their door and pulled away from Rose just a bit.

"Oi space man, you have two minutes to get decent then we're coming in there to help Rose get ready!" Donna shouted through the door.

"You know, technically we're already married, we could just skip this part," the Doctor whispered, his lips barely an inch from hers. She giggled and shook her head.

"No way, this was your idea," she reminded him with smirk.

"What was I thinking?" He moaned as he rolled onto his back, running his hands through his hair.

"That your mostly human wife might like things a little traditional?" Rose asked and he sighed and nodded his head.

"Ah, yes, that was it." He rolled back towards her and kissed her forehead. "I'd better get dressed."

"Probably a good idea," Rose told him then he rolled back to the other side of the bed, he threw the blanket back but the sheet got tangled around his feet as he tried to get up. He fell off the bed with a soft bang and Rose giggled when his head popped up over the side of the bed.

"You have 30 seconds!" Donna called pounding on the door again. He got up, fumbling around a bit, making Rose giggle more and grabbed his trousers off the chair by the wall and swiftly pulled them on. He was working on buttoning his shirt when Donna opened the door and came traipsing in, followed by Amy, Martha and Sarah Jane.

"How come Rose didn't need to get dressed?" the Doctor whined as he pulled his suspenders up over his shoulder.

"Because she's getting ready here," Amy said sitting next to Rose on the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm great, slept really well," Rose told her with a smile. Martha held the door open and looked pointedly at the Doctor.

"I don't even have my socks on yet," He said, his voice still slightly whiny. He shared a small smile with Rose when Donna turned away from him.

"I gave you plenty of warning," Donna said rolling her eyes at Martha. He gave Donna a look behind her back and she turned and stared at him.

"I'm going," he mumbled, grabbing some socks from his dresser. He walked over to Roses' side of the bed and Amy stood so he could lean over and give Rose a kiss goodbye.

"Don't come back here either," Donna said when he pulled up and glared at her. "You'll see Rose in a few hours," she said starting to push him towards the door.

"Love you!" Rose called as Donna pushed him out.

"I love you too!" She heard him call back before Donna slammed the door in his face.

"Donna, you're terrible" Rose said with a bit of a giggle and Donna smiled at her.

"Rude _and_ ginger," Donna said with a shrug as she walked over to the wardrobe. She pulled the doors open and reached in for the dress bag hanging there. "Now, shall we get started?"

~*~Time~*~

"Is she late, I feel like she's late," the Doctor said looking back at Jack who smirked at him.

"I don't know, aren't you the Time Lord here?" Jack asked and Mickey snickered. The Doctor glared at them both and Rory shook his head at the three of them.

"She's still got 5 minutes," Rory told them after looking at his watch.

"See, that's a good groomsmen, good job Rory," the Doctor said flashing a smile at Rory. He reached up and twitched his bowtie then turned and looked at Jack again. "I don't think I can wait five minutes." He said and Jack smirked.

"You'll be fine," Jack told him and the Doctor nodded and turned forward again. He reached up as though to run his hand through his hair but Jack put his hand on his arm. "You asked me not to let you do that," Jack reminded him and the Doctor sighed. He began to tap his foot and sighed in relief when the music Rose had picked started up. Amy came walking down the aisle first, Martha was next, followed by Donna, and they all wore a very sunny yellow dress. He took a deep breath as everyone stood and his hearts began to race a little. Rose came around the corner, her arm looped through Sarah Janes. Sarah had been delighted when Rose had asked her if she'd walk her down the aisle.

Her dress was white; the bodice was covered in shimmery jewels with a hint of light blue. It was a sweetheart neckline and the Doctor could see the chain of her TARDIS key, the key hidden below the bodice. There was a TARDIS blue sash just below her bust, creating an empire waist, the skirt flowed gently over the swell of her belly, it was layers of fluffy white, something, the Doctor wasn't really sure what it was called, but he knew she'd never looked more beautiful than in that moment. Rose smiled widely as they stepped up next to him and Jack stepped from next to the Doctor to behind them both. They were having a hand-fasting, and therefore didn't need an officiant, so Jack had been asked to lead them through it. Everyone sat as the Doctor took Roses' hand and together they turned to Jack.

"We are here today to bind these two people together in love," Jack started and she and the Doctor giggled at Jack's whispered 'finally.' Jack turned to the men on his right and smiled. He held out his hand and Rory handed him a long piece of silky fabric, the same shade of blue as Rose's sash.

The Doctor turned towards Rose as she turned to face him and he clasped their hands together in front of them. Jack laid the silk over their hands.

"As Rose and the Doctor have no living blood family here today, we have stepped in, Mickey," Jack said looking to Mickey. "As one of the Doctor's best friends could you give your blessing of this union?" Jack asked looking back to Rose and the Doctor, who were still staring at each other.

"I consent and gladly give," Mickey said with a bright smiled and a nod of his head.

"Wonderful," Jack said turning to the ladies. "Sarah Jane, as one of Rose's best friends could you give your blessing for this union?"

"I consent and gladly give," Sarah said, her voice choked up just a bit. Jack smiled brightly and nodded his head as he turned back to the Doctor and Rose.

"Do you promise to share in your good days and bad?" He asked and still, they didn't take their eyes off each other as they answered in unison.

"I do," and Jack smiled as he wrapped the silk around their joined hands once.

"Do you promise to help each other, to hold steady in rough times and rejoice in joyful ones?" Jack asked and they both nodded again as they spoke in unison.

"I do," Jack wrapped the silk around their hands again. Rose's eyes flitted down to the silk for just a moment then back up to his eyes.

 _Is it...warming up?_ She silently asked the Doctor and his eyes twinkled as he smiled.

 _It is,"_ He said with a wink.

"Doctor," Jack said then nodding to the Doctor and he smiled and squeezed Rose's hands.

"I promise to help you through this life as best I can. To show you the stars and give you everything you could ever want. I promise to be your partner, to do this together, always. I love you." He said and Rose blinked as tears slid down her face.

"Rose," Jack said looking to Rose with a few tears of his own.

"I promise to give you everything I am. I promise to run with you, where ever life leads us. And I promise, I will never need anything more than your hand in mine, forever." Rose told him and Jack wiped his eye before he reached over and wrapped the silk around their hands again. The silk heated up to a burning blaze for just a moment and Rose's eyes went wide, it didn't hurt, but it was surprising. When it stopped she looked down but the silk tie was gone.

The Doctor took her hand gently and turned it over and on the inside of her wrist there was a small tattoo, it was interconnected circles and dots with a few lines, Rose recognized it as circular Gallifreyan. She looked up, her eyes questioning.

" _It says 'Doctor,'"_ _h_ e told her with a smile and she nodded and looked at his hand.

" _Do you have one?"_ She asked and he nodded his head again and turned his wrist over. His was written in English and Rose was surprised by what was there.

" _Seems you don't see yourself as just Rose anymore,"_ he told her with a proud smile on his face. The tattoo across his wrist read _Bad Wolf_.

" _I haven't thought of myself as 'just Rose' since the day you came running into my life,"_ she told him with an affectionate smile. He smiled back then he leaned in and whispered something in her ear and she felt her body hum with energy for a moment as he spoke. It felt almost as if some last dingy lock burst free and her mind raced to his, colliding together in a burst of golden light.

"My name," he said quietly as he blinked and touched his head. "It's amazing." He whispered setting his forehead on hers.

"It really is," Rose whispered back. They both jumped apart when Jack cleared his throat lightly and the group laughed lightly.

"Yeah, we're still here," Jack said when they both looked at him. He had a huge smile on his face and Rose giggled.

"It is my honor to pronounce, here before your friends and family, you husband and wife." Jack looked at the Doctor and winked. "Go on, kiss her."

The Doctor didn't need telling twice as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her to wolf whistles and clapping.

~*~Beginning~*~

Rose shifted in her seat and the Doctors eyes shifted to her. She had an odd look on her face and he felt pain radiating from their bond. He put his hand on hers and she smiled at him, though it looked a bit more like a grimace. They were sitting at a table as everyone talked and danced, it was a little weird for him, to be surrounded by everyone he knew and loved. He was always moving on, never looking back, but now, now he wanted to look forward and he wanted them with him when he did.

"What's the matter?" He asked leaning into her just a little. She sucked in a breath and his eyes widened. "Rose?"

"Sorry," She said then relaxed and smiled a little. "But I think I'm having contractions."

"Rose," He reprimanded lightly and she shrugged. "For how long?"

"Um," She looked down at her hands then back up at him. "About three hours now."

"So basically since we started the reception?" He asked his voice edged with worry.

"Yeah, about that long," She nodded her head taking a deep breath. "They were so irregular and like 20 minutes apart, I thought they were just Braxton Hicks. But over the last 30 minutes or so they've been every seven minutes or so."

"How do you feel?" He asked wondering how he'd only just now felt the pain. She must be blocking it from him somehow; though they hadn't really gone over how to do that yet so he wondered if she was doing it subconsciously. At least now he knew why she'd only wanted to dance the one time.

"Okay," Rose said nodding her head. "Little tired, kinda light headed."

"We need to get you back to the TARDIS." He said and Rose smiled nodding her head.

"Yeah, I kinda figured." She said as he stood up. He scanned the room looking for someone. Rose watched him and wondered who he was looking for.

"Martha!" He called when he spotted her dancing with Mickey. She looked up and saw the look on his face. She whispered something to Mickey and he nodded and she hurried over. He continued to look through the room as Martha got to them. "Rory!" He called when he spotted him talking to his dad by the bar. Rory looked up at the Doctor and rushed over as well.

"What's wrong?" Martha asked as Rory walked up beside her.

"Rose is having contractions," he told them both and Rose watched in fascination as they both looked to her, doctors eyes now.

"Where did you park the TARDIS?" Martha asked as she stepped over next to Rose's chair.

"Behind the hall," The Doctor said as he too stepped onto the other side of Rose. He reached for her hand and she took it, ready to stand then pain racked through her and she clenched her jaw closed and squeezed his hand.

"Six minutes," he said as she took slow breaths and nodded her head. She groaned in pain and the Doctor winced, he could feel a bit of what she was going through and wished he could take on all the pain. Especially knowing she was going to have to do this unmedicated since they had no idea what kind of affect an epidural might have on her and the baby during all this.

"That's good Rose," Martha was saying as she took a deep breath through her nose and let it out through her mouth. "Breath through it, you're doing great."

"Well," Rose said when it had passed. She stood slowly and smiled at the Doctor. "Lead the way." Martha took one arm while the Doctor took the other and Rory fell into step next to them. Amy hurried over to them looking worried.

"Rose is having the baby," the Doctor said and Amy nodded her head. She kissed Rory on the cheek and turned back to the Doctor, walking next to Rory.

"I'll let everyone know what is going on." She said turning back towards the reception as they walked out the doors.

They had to stop half way to the TARDIS as another contraction hit and the Doctor held Rose as she swayed, Martha helping her with her breathing as she moved through the contraction.

"That's only four minutes between the last one and now." The Doctor said and Martha smiled at him.

"The time in between can shorten and lengthen for a while." She told him as they started walking again. The Doctor nodded and Rose hoped they'd be there soon.

"We need to tell them," Rose said and the Doctor looked at her and nodded. They had not told any of their friends what was going on with Rose. They had figured out that it was a combination of Bad Wolf and the TARDIS changing Rose as the baby grew. And that the changes would be completed shortly after the baby was born. But other than the fact that the Doctor was sure he wasn't going to lose Rose, they didn't know exactly what was going to happen.

"Tell us what?" Rory asked as the Doctor unlocked the TARDIS and helped Rose step inside. He looked back at Rory and Martha as they followed them in.

"The pregnancy is technically killing Rose," the Doctor said bluntly and Rose rolled her eyes as Martha gasped and Rory's eyes flew wide.

"Doctor!" Rose reprimanded him and he winced.

"Sorry, not really killing her, changing her. Humans weren't meant to carry Gallifreyan babies, bodies can't handle the stress. So Rose's body is changing to accommodate the pregnancy. It will finish right after the baby is born, but well... I'm not exactly sure what that is going to entail. I think she's going to regenerate, in some way."

"Okay," Rory said as they turned into the medbay and the Doctor walked Rose straight over to the birthing bed just as she clutched his hand and groaned in pain again. When it had passed she turned her back to the Doctor.

"Take this off, take it off, I can't breathe." The Doctor could hear the underlining fear and a touch of hysteria in her voice as he reached up and unzipped the dress. He pulled it down and heard a small squeak and looked over to where Martha was getting a few things together and Rory was facing the wall now. Rose was wearing a lovely, lacey TARDIS blue slip under the dress and he smiled.

"Not how I figured you see it," Rose whispered, sounding calmer now that the dress was off.

"It's beautiful," he said reaching behind him for a birthing gown. "But for poor Rory's senses, maybe you should put this on." He said a teasing tone to his voice. Rose took a deep breath and it came out on a small chuckle.

"Sorry Rory," she said as she stepped into the birthing gown. It was a sight bit better than the one her mum had gotten at the hospital when Tony was born. Oh damn, she closed her eyes for a moment as a wave of sadness crashed through her.

"I'm sorry love," the Doctor told her and she nodded. It was nice not to have to explain to him what she was feeling in a moment like this. He helped her into the bed and began to hook up a monitor. He found the baby's heartbeat and then the sound filled the room.

"She's doing great," he said and Rose smiled nodding her head. "Let's see how far along you are yeah?"

~*~Change~*~

Rose had been pushing now for only a few minutes. It had been two hours since they walked her into the TARDIS. The Doctor was sitting behind her, his hands on her arms, Martha situated at the end of the bed while Rory kept his eye on Rose's and the baby's vital signs. After a long contraction Rose collapsed back into the Doctor, panting.

"I can't do this," she said shaking her head.

"You're doing so well Rose, so well," he told her rubbing her hair back out of her face as it screwed up into a grimace again.

"Come on Rose, push!" Martha yelled as the contraction hit. Rose took a deep breath and pushed, squeezing the Doctor's hand and yelling as she did.

"That's it Rose, just a bit more!" Martha told her, the top of the baby's head was just visible. "Push, one more big push!" Rose grit her teeth and pushed as hard as she could and the baby's head popped out and Martha helped guide the rest of her out as Rose pushed just a bit more.

"Oh she's beautiful," Martha said as Rory wiped the baby's face and mouth. And Rose's eyes filled with tears as the baby began to cry. "Here mum." Martha said putting her daughter on her chest.

"Oh she's beautiful," she said holding her close as she cried. Suddenly Rose began to feel very warm through her body.

"Doctor," Rory said his voice worried. "Her vitals are dropping." The Doctor looked down at Rose as her eyes began to drop.

"Martha take the baby," he said his voice urgent and Martha gently picked up the baby and carried her over to the warmer to finish cleaning her up. "Rose?" He asked looking down at her.

"Mmmm," she said her voice low and tired.

"Rose can you tell me how you're feeling?" He asked as he gingerly slide out from behind her so he could look her over.

"Warm," she said softly the end of the word almost lost in the whisper.

"Doctor," Rory repeated his voice full of fear now. Her vitals were all bottoming out.

"I know," he said as Rose closed and opened her eyes a few times. It was taking every ounce of his will power not to rush in and try and save her. The only thing keeping him from acting was the gentle reassurances he was receiving from the TARDIS and the fact that he could still feel his and Rose's bond, strong as ever. The sound of the monitors signaling a code red as Rose 'died' almost had him moving.

"What..." Rory said as he stepped back a step. A soft golden light seemed to swirl around her, it was not the blast of light that his regenerations came with, it was ethereal and calm, wrapping around her like golden smoke.

"Wow," he heard Martha mutter behind him and he could hear the baby fussing just a bit and he sent her calming waves of love and she calmed at once. Then at once the code red stopped beeping in the background and Rose drew in a long breath, the golden vapor dissipating slowly. She was breathing again, deep long breaths. He walked slowly over to her, looking her over from her toes to the top of her head. She hadn't changed at all, well, that wasn't totally true. Her skin and hair were no longer covered in sweat. Her cheeks were rosy and her skin looked almost to be glowing. But her face was still the face he'd always loved. He wondered how she'd feel about that. Had she been hoping for a change? He placed his hand on her chest and a huge smile broke out over his face. Her hearts were beating at a healthy rate. Her _hearts!_

"Hello love," Rose said before her eyes fluttered open. She looked around for a moment. Ah, that was different, the Doctor thought when her eyes met his. Her eyes had been a deep whiskey brown before, and while that color still remained they were now flecked with gold, giving her eyes the look of a rare stone. "Where is she?" She asked and Martha stepped over still in a bit of awe, and placed a snuggly wrapped baby into Rose's arms.

"She's beautiful, isn't she Doctor?" Rose asked looking up at the Doctor. He was staring at her in a bit of awe himself. "What? Is it bad? Have I got a big mole on my face of something?"

"No," he said shaking his head. He opened his mind to her, showing her how he saw her and she smiled and nodded her head. Showing her how beautiful he thought she was, no matter what she looked like. Then he admitted he had a soft spot for that tongue touched smile of hers.

"Not ginger then," she said with a sigh and the Doctor laughed.

"Well, you might not be ginger but..." Martha pulled the blanket off the baby's head, showing a tuft of shocking ginger hair.

"On her first go?" The Doctor whined and Rose giggled as he put his arm around her shoulder. "How is that fair?"

A/N- I have more for this, I'm just not sure yet when I'll start posting. It'll be a new story though, so keep your eyes open! I hope you guys enjoyed the story! I would love to hear from the readers!


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